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TOEFL Diagnostic Test
Part lary
Test
Set One
1. The word
“incredible” in the passage is closest in meaning
to
A.
confusing
B.
comforting
C.
unbelievable
D.
interesting
2. The word “out of sight” in the
passage is closest in meaning to
A.
far away
B.
hidden
C.
partly visible
D.
discovered
3. The word “dramatic” in
the passage is closest in meaning to
A.
gradual
B.
complex
C.
visible
D.
striking
4. The word “precious” in
the passage is closest in meaning to
A.
exact
B.
scarce
C.
valuable
D.
initial
5. The word “exposed” in
the passage is closest in meaning to
A.
explained
B.
visible
C.
identified
D.
located
6. The word “threatened” in
the passage is closest in meaning to
A.
restricted
B.
endangered
C.
prevented
D.
rejected
7. The word “assistance” in
the passage is close
st in meaning to
A.
criticism
B.
leadership
C.
help
D.
approval
8. The word “unprecedented”
in the passage is closest in meaning to
1
A.
difficult to control
B.
without any
restriction
C.
unlike anything in the past
D.
rapidly
expanding
9. The word
“particular” in the passage is closest in meaning
to
A.
natural
B.
final
C.
specific
D.
complex
10. The
phrase
A.
impatiently
B.
humorously
C.
continuously
D.
immediately
1
1. The word “guarantee”
in
the passage is closest in meaning to
A.
increase
B.
ensure
C.
favor
D.
complicate
1
2. The word
“attain” in the passage is closest in meaning
to
A.
require
B.
resist
C.
achieve
D.
endure
1
3. The word “rebound” in
the passage is closest in meaning to
A.
decline
B.
recovery
C.
exchange
D.
movement
1
4. The word
“principal” in the passage is closest in meaning
to
A.
major
B.
likely
C.
well protected
D.
distinct
1
5. The word
“trappings” in the passage is closest in meaning
to
A.
conditions
B.
problems
C.
influences
D.
decorations
2
Set Two
16. The
w
ord “accumulate” in the passage is
closest in meaning to
A.
grow up
B.
build up
C.
spread out
D.
break apart
17
. The word
“enhance” in the passage is closest in meaning to
A.
protect
B.
improve
C.
organize
D.
match
18
. The word “exhibit” in
the passage is closest in meaning to
A.
fight off
B.
show
C.
cause
D.
spread
19
. The word
“suspended” in the passage is closest in meaning
to
A.
grown
B.
protected
C.
spread out
D.
hung
20
. The word “overwhelming”
in the passage is closest in meaning t
o
A.
powerful
B.
favorable
C.
current
D.
reasonable
21
. The word
“championed” in the passage is closest in meaning
to
A.
superfluous
B.
supervise
C.
invalidate
D.
supported
22
. The word “attributes” in
the passage is closest in meaning to
A.
ascribes
B.
disintegrate
C.
defibrillate
D.
prerequisite
23
. The word
“autonomous” in the passage is closest in meaning
to
A.
superintendent
3
B.
important
C.
independent
D.
superimpose
24
. The word “penchant” in
the passage is closest in meaning to
A.
compromise
B.
inclination
C.
jeopardy
D.
presumptuous
25
. The word
“prevalent” in the passage is closest in meaning
to
A.
parochial
B.
prevailing
C.
provincial
D.
underprivileged
26
. The word “delicate” in
the passage is closest in meaning to
A.
fragile
B.
palatable
C.
complex
D.
magnanimous
27
. The phrase
“devoid of” in the passage is closest in meaning
to
A.
destitute of
B.
assassinated by
C.
except for
D.
despair of
28
. The word
“progressively” in the passage is closest in
meaning to
A.
degenerately
B.
explosively
C.
inadvertently
D.
increasingly
29.
The word
“diversification” in the
passage is closest in meaning to
A.
emergence of
many varieties
B.
steady decline in number
C.
gradual
increase in body size
D.
sudden disappearance
30
. The word “integral” is
closest in meaning to
A.
inherent
B.
valetudinarian
C.
antidisestablishmentarian
D.
cogent
4
SetThree: Write down the Chinese
meaning of each of the following words.
31. entrepreneur
32.
mammal
33. atmosphere 34. essay
35. asteroid
36. astronomy 37. meteorology 38.
geology
39. linguistics
40. anthropology 41. archaeology
42.
predator
43. mechanism
44. spine
45.
molecule 46. decomposition
48. ancestor
49. glacier
50.
liquid
47. irrigate
Part g Comprehension
Passage One
Various
studies
have
shown
that
increased
spending
on
education
has
not
led
to
measurable improvements in learning.
Between 1980 and 2008, staff and teachers at U.S.
public
schools
grew
roughly
twice
as
fast
as
students.
Yet
students
showed
no
additional
learning
in
achievement tests.
Universities show similar trends of
increased administration personnel and costs
without
greater learning, as documented
in Richard Arum and Josipa Roksa's recent book
Academically
Adrift Limited Learning on
College Campuses.
A survey shows that
63% of employers say that recent college graduates
don't have the
skills they need to
succeed and 25% of employers say that entry-level
writing skills are lacking.
Some
simplistically attribute the decline in our public
education system to the drain of the skilled
students
by
private
schools,
but
far
more
significant
events
were
at
work.
Public schools worked well until about
the 1970s. In fact, until that time, public
schools provided
far better education
than private ones. It was the underperforming
students who were threw out
of public
schools and went to private ones.
A
prominent reason public schools did well was that
many highly qualified women had
few
options for working outside the house other than
being teachers or
nurses. They accepted
relatively low pay, difficult working
conditions, and gave their very best.
Having such a large supply of talented
women teachers meant that society could pay less
for their services. Women's liberation
opened up new professional opportunities for
women, and,
over time, some of the best
left teaching as a career option, bringing about a
gradual decline in
the quality of
schooling.
Also around that time,
regulations, government, and unions came to
dictate pay, prevent
adjustments,
and
introduce
bureaucratic
(
官僚的
)
standard
for
adjustment.
Large
education
bureaucracies and
unions came to dominate the landscape, confusing
activity with achievement.
Bureaucrats
regularly
rewrite
curriculums,
talk
nonsense
about
the
theories
of
education,
and
require ever more administrators. The
end result had been that, after all the spending,
students
have worse math and reading
skills than both their foreign peers and earlier
generations spending
far less on
education
—
as all the
accumulating evidence now documents.
1. What do we learn from various
studies on America's public education?
A) Achievement tests have failed to
truly reflect the quality of teaching.
B) Public schools lack the resources to
compete with private schools.
C) Little
improvement in education has resulted from
increased spending.
D) The number of
students has increased much faster than that of
teachers.
2. How do some
people explain the decline in public education?
5