TOEFL IBT Reading Practice Test 08 from IVY’s Reading 15 Actual Test
This section measures your ability to understand academic passages in English. The Reading section is divided into 2 separately timed parts.
Most questions are worth 1 point but the last question in each set is worth more than 1 point. The directions indicate how many points you may receive.
Some passages include a word or phrase that is underlined in blue. Click on the word or phrase to see a definition or an explanation.
Within each part, you can go to the next question by clicking Next. You may skip questions and go back to them later. If you want to return to previous questions, click on Back. You can click on Review at any time and the review screen will show you which questions you have answered and which you have not answered. From this review screen, you may go directly to any question you have already seen in the Reading section.
You may now begin the Reading section. In this part you will read 1 passage. You will have 20 minutes to read the passage and answer the questions.
Passage 1| Anthropology
The Ancient Puebloans
The Ancient Puebloans, a Native American people, are probably most recognized for their architecture—distinctive jacal (a frame of sticks covered with clay) and sandstone structures constructed atop desert plateaus and within rocky canyon walls. Due to the abundance of water, the Ancient Puebloans initially inhabited the Four Comers region of the United States. This vast area in the southwestern part of the country covered parts of modern-day New Mexico, Arizona, Colorado, and Utah. As the population of Ancient Puebloans grew, their cultural center gradually moved south in the fourteenth century, into central Arizona and the Rio Grande Valley in New Mexico. To archaeologists, this cultural shift is somewhat mysterious, as there is little archaeological evidence that explains why the Ancient Puebloans left their communities in the north and migrated south. Archaeologists are also uncertain about when Ancient Puebloan culture began; most agree that it was well established in the Four Comers region by at least 1 AD, though some trace its origins as far back as 1500 BC.
The Ancient Puebloans were the predecessors of today’s Pueblo peoples, who consist of about 25 groups, including Hopi, Zuni, Taos, and Acoma. Because the different groups of modem Pueblos speak different languages, there is no single term for their common ancestors. The Hopi call their ancestors Hisatsinom. Although Ancient Puebloans are commonly referred to by the term Anasazi, a name used by archaeologists to describe the Ancient Puebloans’ shared culture, many Pueblos consider this term offensive. Anasazi is actually from the language of the Navajo, meaning “ancient enemy,” “ancient outsider,” or “ancient foreigner.”
In the beginning, the Ancient Puebloans were nomadic hunters and gatherers but later settled down to become an agricultural society, building permanent, complex communities. Early architecture was constructed using jacal, which was formed from a wooden framework covered with clay. These structures were fortified with rocks, and the roofs were covered with branches and mud and were supported by beams of wood. [A] The Ancient Puebloans also constructed storage structures of stone to guard their food supplies. [B] Using stone hammers to shape sandstone blocks for construction, they later moved from jacal homes to larger, multi-level stone buildings, eventually carving them into cliffs—most likely for protection against enemies. [C]
The Ancient Puebloans initially resided in small clusters of families. [D] As the civilization grew, families gradually became clans, then tribes. Small groups of households composed early communities that eventually expanded into hamlets, villages, and then towns. It is believed that the Ancient Puebloan population experienced a period of dramatic growth, causing communities to join together in order to efficiently regulate their food and water supplies. As the Ancient Puebloan population grew, so too did their infrastructure, whereby complex trading routes, some hundreds of miles in length, were established, allowing them to travel far away to trade goods. Moreover, such elaborate routes enabled Ancient Puebloan culture to further develop through interaction and communication with other cultures. With the establishment of permanent communities, the Ancient Puebloans began to focus on complicated crafts. Subsequently, Ancient Puebloan culture and art flourished, as seen in numerous baskets and pottery crafts, which were functional as well as aesthetic. From about 1000 to 1300 AD, Ancient Puebloan ; culture is believed to have reached a climax, particularly in the areas of pottery, weaving, and architecture. After this time, however, the Ancient Puebloans departed this region, leaving behind architectural symbols of their f culture in the form of their dwellings.
What caused the Ancient Puebloans to leave is not entirely clear to archaeologists. By 1300 the Four Corners area of the Ancient Puebloans was abandoned. The dominant lingering proof that the once prosperous Ancient Puebloan culture existed is in the structural remains scattered throughout the southwestern United States. There are several theories that attempt to explain the departure of the Ancient Puebloans: devastating drought, food shortages, and political conflict. Scientists have found evidence that there were several severe droughts that corresponded with major shifts in the Ancient Puebloan population, o Droughts at the end of the thirteenth century may have been the ultimate cause of the Ancient Puebloans’ migration. Food shortages also may have resulted from the depletion of natural resources, deforestation, and land scarcity. Archaeologists also suspect that there may have been political friction, perhaps caused by the aforementioned environmental factors or by competition with other cultures, and that the resulting social changes in the culture of the Ancient Puebloans led to southern migration. As many as ten thousand of the Ancient Puebloans may have moved southward into the Rio Grande Valley, which is where Spaniards encountered them a few hundred years later and called them pueblos meaning “towns” in Spanish. Additional evidence can be found in the testimonies still told by the descendants of the legendary Ancient Puebloans. According to modem Pueblos, some Ancient Puebloans migrated to southern Arizona and New Mexico, integrating into Hopi and Zuni communities there.
1. What can be inferred from paragraph 1 about the origin of Ancient Puebloan culture?
(A) It may have begun later than 1500 BC.
(B) It did not begin in the American Southwest
(C) The date cannot be estimated.
(D) It may have emerged from an earlier civilization.
2. The word predecessors in the passage is closest in meaning to
(A) offspring
(B) governments
(C) families
(D) ancestors
3. According to paragraph 2, there is no Pueblo term for their culture’s ancestors because
(A) Pueblo cultures have not needed a term for their ancestors.
(B) Pueblo groups do not share a common language.
(C) Pueblos have borrowed words from other languages.
(D) Pueblo language is no longer spoken.
4. What can be inferred from paragraph 2 about the term Anasazi?
(A) It is less common than the term “Ancient Puebloans.”
(B) It is only used by the Navajo.
(C) It is preferred over the term Hisatsinom by Puebloans.
(D) It is less appropriate than the term “Ancient Puebloans.”
5. The word fortified in the passage is closest in meaning to
(A) strengthened
(B) blocked
(C) hidden
(D) decorated
6 The word that in the passage refers to
(A) groups
(B) households
(C) communities
(D) hamlets
7. Why does the author mention food and water supplies in paragraph 4?
{A) To introduce a theory about why the Ancient Puebloans left the Four Corners region
(B) To suggest that fear of raids by other groups was an everyday concern
(C) To explain what caused the Ancient Puebloans to settle in large communities
(D) To indicate that the Ancient Puebloans were a wealthy civilization
8. The word flourished in the passage is closest in meaning to
(A) lengthened
(B) thrived
(C) emerged
(D) changed
9. According to the passage, what happened to the Ancient Puebloans between 1000 and 1300 AD?
(A) They left the region that their culture had inhabited for centuries.
(B) They experienced a drought that caused a political conflict.
(C) They merged with the Hopi and Zuni to form a larger civilization.
(D) They reached the highest point in the history of their civilization.
10. The word lingering in the passage is closest in meaning to
(A) clear
(B) important
(C) remaining
(D) surprising
11. 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) Ten thousand of the Ancient Puebloans traveled south to trade with the Spaniards who had recently arrived.
(B) The Spaniards who met the relocated Ancient Puebloans in the south gave them the name pueblos.
(C) Pueblo is a Spanish word for Native Americans who live in small communities or towns.
(D) The Spaniards traveled north to meet the Ancient Puebloans they had heard about while in the Rio Grande Valley.
12. Look at the four squares m that indicate where the following sentence could be added to the passage.
Such dwellings had other advantages as well because cliff dwellings provided extra protection from weather and did not take up land that could be used for agriculture.
Where would the sentence best fit?
Click on a square [] to add the sentence
13. Directions: An introductory sentence for a brief summary of the passage is provided below. Complete the summary by selecting 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.
Although archaeologists have evidence about the origin and expansion of the Ancient Puebloan population, they still wonder about the reason for its departure from the Four Comers region.
*
*
*
Answer Choices
(A) It is estimated that the Ancient Puebloans first appeared in the fertile Four Corners region around 2000 to 3500 years ago.
(C) Architecture and crafts in the Four Corners region reveal the Ancient Puebloans’ cultural growth.
(E) Archaeologists have discovered that the Ancient Puebloans left the Four Corners region when they ran out of natural resources.
(B) Until the fourteenth century, the Ancient Puebloans were relatively unknown to archaeologists.
(D) Archaeologists cannot prove why the Ancient Puebloan population departed from the Four Corners region.
(F) Pottery and handicrafts are the only evidence left to suggest that the Ancient Puebloans were once a prosperous civilization.
Drag your answer choices to the spaces where they belong. To remove an answer choice, click on it To review the passage, click View Text
Reading Passage 2 Reading Passage 3 Solution & Explanation for Reading Passage 1