In this video, you're going to take a
TOEFL listening test which has been designed by TST Prep to copy the exact
structure and level of difficulty of the TOEFL exam. In the link in the
description below you will see a link to a PDF version of the TOEFL listening
which I strongly recommend you download so you can have a answer key that
includes explanations of every single question in this listening test. Hi, my
name is Josh McPherson. I am the head instructor at TST prep and our mission
is simple: to help you get the TOEFL score you need as quickly and easily as
possible. And today we're going to do that by taking a complete TOEFL
Listening test. So get a pen and a piece of paper ready and let's get started. Now listen to a conversation between a
student and a professor. Hi, professor, do you mind if I talk to
you for a minute? Sure, Karla, what's going on? Well... as you
know this has been a really difficult class for me ... and I'm really really
nervous about the final coming up. I'm scared I'm going to fail this class, but
I have to pass or I'll have to take an extra class next semester and I know
that would be difficult. I was wondering if you could help me prepare or figure
out a way to at least make sure I'll pass.
Yes, I've noticed this class hasn't been easy for you. I'm glad you came to me
because the last thing I want is for any of my students to fail the course. what
have you been doing to prepare for the final? Well, I'm studying in the library
whenever I can, but I feel like I just don't understand the information. I'm
only taking this intro to biology class because I need to fulfill my science
requirement... I'm a French major and science just doesn't make sense to me.
I'm really scared I'm not going to do well on the final. Is there any way I
could do some extra credit to help my grade? I'm sorry, Carla, but there will be
no opportunities for extra credit. If I let you do something, I would have to let
everyone in the class do it. Oh okay, well, I understand I guess. Why don't you see
if you can study with some other students in the class?
I'm sure Martin or Sarah would be willing to help you. They seem to have an
excellent grasp on the material. I could... I kind of feel bad asking... I know Sarah
is in the student government and Martin is on the soccer team so I feel like
they're both really busy. Well if you don't feel comfortable working with them,
you could always go to the Student Center and have them help you find a
tutor. You would have to pay, but it's really cheap since they are student
tutors and subsidized by the school, I guess I could do that. I really can't
afford to fail this class, so I think I'm going to have to invest in a tutor. I
know many students who have done well after working with one of the student
tutors. If you decide to go that route, I'm sure you will benefit as well. I hope
so. Thanks, professor. Of course, Carla. Good
luck. Now answer the questions. One: What problem is the student having? Two: Why does Carla mention that Sarah is in student government and Martin is on the soccer team? soccer team? Three: Why does the student say she is
taking this class? Four: What does the professor suggest
Karla do? Five: What is the professor implying when
he says that Martin and Sarah have an excellent grasp on the material? Now listen to part of a talk in the
biology class. All right, now, a common misconception
about global climate change, commonly referred to as global warming, is that if
we experience an unusually hot day in this area alone, then it's evidence of
climate change. I just want to take a second to make it clear that changes in
local weather is a weather-related event, not a climate related one. Climate refers
to the long term predictable atmospheric conditions of a specific area, not the
conditions of a day or even a week for that matter. Weather refers to the
conditions of the atmosphere during a short period of time. Weather forecasts
are usually made in 48-hour cycles and are more concerned with daily and hourly
predictions. Yes, Henry. So, you're saying that climate has more to do with
seasonal changes, for example, like the difference between summer and winter in
New York, while weather is more about the conditions outside today or tomorrow.
That's right Henry. So, now that we have established exactly what we mean by
climate, let me ask you about the causes of climate change. I mentioned them in
the last class. Well we started by talking about the industrial revolution,
which began in the early 1800s and that's when most of society started
burning fossil fuels, like oil and coal, and those fuels release a bunch of
carbon dioxide into the air. And when there's more carbon dioxide in the air,
more of the sun's energy gets trapped in the atmosphere so the climate of the
earth warms. Perfect Jessica. Maybe I should have you teach the class. So yes
most of us know about the harmful effects of the burning of fossil fuels
and the release of greenhouse gases in the atmosphere, and I'll get back to that
in a minute, but what causes climate change? There are two more. Henry? I know one is solar intensity and the other, I think has something to do with volcanoes.
Sorry, I can't remember exactly. Well, like you said, the intensity of the Sun does
change, believe it or not. Changes in the amount of heat from the Sun has been
proposed as one explanation for past climate events. And the third you are
thinking of is volcanic eruptions. Ah, that's right, I remember now the gas
released during an eruption can change the climate over a period of a few years,
but this type of climate change is usually just short-term, right? Right. Now,
let's get back to fossil fuels. As Jessica mentioned, increased amounts of
carbon dioxide and other greenhouse gases are usually released through the
burning of fossil fuels. Make no mistake, what may sometimes be
reported in the media as debatable, there is no debate among scientists as to
whether or not climate change is due to human activity. True, the strength of the
sun's rays and the eruption of volcanoes can play a role, but there is an
overwhelming amount of evidence that human activity, particularly the burning
of fossil fuels, is to blame for the rise in global temperatures. And we are now
starting to see the tremendous impact global warming is having on our
environment. Between 2002 and 2006 Greenland lost almost 200 kilometers
worth of glaciers. And as the glaciers melt around the globe,
the sea levels rise, which threatens the coastal life of humans and the marine
life of aquatic species. Now many organisms on land are also being
affected by the changes in climate. Temperature and rainfall play key roles
in determining the geographic distribution of plants and animals. For
example, researchers have shown that 385 plant species in England are flowering
five days sooner than usual. In addition, insect species that pollinate and rely
on these flowers, are now arriving sooner than in previous decades. This mismatched timing of plants and insects could result in the loss of both species in
the area. Small changes in the atmosphere have already made a big impact on
species that rely on specific weather conditions. Most think of polar bears and
they're disappearing homeland of snow and ice, but this is just one of the many
organisms threatened by global climate change and that includes us humans. Now answer the questions. One: What is the professor mainly discussing? Two: The professor discusses several causes and effects of climate change. Indicate which information matches a cause or
effects. This question is worth two points. Three: What is the difference between
weather and climate? Select two. Four: According to the lecture, what is an
example of the effects of climate change? Five: What is the professor implying when
he says this, "Perfect Jessica, maybe I should have you teach the class". Six: What does the professor imply about
the role of human activity in climate change? Now listen to part of the talk in an
astronomy class. Okay, so I'm sure you all know what
meteors are, right? Those bright shooting stars in the sky that sometimes pass
through the atmosphere and land here on Earth as hot rocks.
Well, these alien rocks go on quite a journey to make it here. You see, these
meteors start off as comets from other areas in space.
The ice in these comets melt when they get close to the Sun, which breaks apart
and sprays millions of tons of rock and dust into the solar system. As each of
the larger dust and rock particles enters the Earth's atmosphere, it creates
a brief fiery trail that is often called a shooting star, but is properly known as
a meteor. Since the particles move at speeds of many kilometers per second,
friction with the air vaporizes them at an altitude of between 80 and 130
kilometers. The resulting flash of light fade out within a few seconds to be
visible, these shooting stars or meteors must be within about 200 kilometers of
the observer. On a typical dark and moonless night, you can see up to six
meteors per hour, maybe more. Now, I don't know about you, but witnessing a shooting
star is really a magical feeling. Anyway... The typical meteor is produced by a
particle with the mass of less than one gram- no larger than a pea. How can we see such a small particle? The light you see comes from the much larger region of
heated glowing gas surrounding this little grain of material. Because of its
high speed, the energy in a pea-sized meteor is greater than a bullet being
fired by a gun on Earth. But, as I'm sure you all know, these shooting stars, these
meteors sometimes land on the ground. Meteorites are pretty much found in two
ways. First, are meteorite falls. Sometimes bright meteors (or fireballs) are observed
to penetrate the atmosphere and find their way to the Earth's surface. The
2013 Chelyabinsk fireball in Russia produced tens of thousands of small
meteorites. Many of them easy to find because these dark stones fell on snow. People sometimes discover unusual- looking rocks that turn out to be meteoritic. These rocks
are termed meteorite finds, the second way meteors are found. Since the 1980s,
meteorite finds in the Antarctic have dramatically increased our knowledge of
space and its materials. More than 10,000 meteorites have been recovered from the
Antarctic as a result of the motion of the ice in some parts of that continent.
Meteorites that fall in regions where ice accumulates are buried and then
carried slowly to other areas where the ice is gradually worn away. After
thousands of years, the rock again finds itself on the surface along with other
meteorites carried to these same locations. The meteorites in our
collections have a wide range of compositions and histories, but
traditionally they have been placed into three broad classes. First are the irons,
composed of nearly pure metallic nickel- iron. The second are the stones, the term
used for any rocky meteorite. The third are the rarer stony- irons made (as the
name implies) of mixtures of stone and metallic iron. Of these three types, the
irons and stony irons are the most obviously extraterrestrial, because of
their metallic content. Pure iron almost never occurs naturally on Earth.
Therefore, if you ever come across a chunk of metallic iron, it is sure to be
either man-made or a meteorite. The stones are much more common than the
irons. but more difficult to recognize. Often laboratory analysis is required to
demonstrate that a particular sample is really of extraterrestrial origin,
especially if it has lain on the ground for some time and been subject to
weathering. The most scientifically valuable stones are those collected
immediately after they fall, or the Arctic samples preserved in a nearly
perfect state by the ice. Now answer the questions. One: what is the purpose of the lecture? Two: Which type of meteorites are
considered the rarest? Three: Why does the professor discuss
meteorites in the Antarctic? Four: what is the professor implying when
he says this, "Of these three types the irons and stony
irons are the most obviously extraterrestrial because of their
metallic content". Five: based on the information from the
listening, indicate which characteristic on the left belongs to either stones,
irons, or stony-irons. This question is worth two points. Six: Why can we see a meteor falling in
the sky if it is smaller than the size of a pea? Now listen to a conversation between a
student and a career advisor. Hi, welcome to the Career Center. How may
I help you? Hi, my name is Michael. I'm a senior and I'm trying to apply for some
jobs... I don't want to have to worry about finding something over the summer after
graduation. I saw a flyer the other day somewhere on campus that said you were
offering resume reviews, and that I could just drop in whenever to get some help
with my resume? That's smart of you, to get a head start.
We do offer drop-in resume review, but that's only on Thursdays. And since today
is Friday, of course, you're gonna have to come back next Thursday. Oh no, really?
Darn. I was really hoping to get some help. There is one job in particular that
I want to apply for but the deadline is next Tuesday... So I need to get help with
my resume before then. Well, what I could do is make you an appointment to meet
with the career advisor. That will be better anyways because then you can meet
for an hour or so and discuss any questions you may have. That sounds
amazing. When do you think I can get an appointment? Let me take a look at our
calendar here mmm. I hate to say this but it looks like all
of our advisors are fully booked until Wednesday. No one is available until
Wednesday? Yikes. That's too late also. I mean, I guess I could make an appointment anyways, since I'll be applying to other jobs in the future, but what should I do
about this one? I have no idea how to write a good resume and the job
application is due Tuesday. Why don't I put you down on the wait list so that
way if anyone cancels or something opens up I will call you right away.
In the meantime, you could try having a friend or family member help you out or
talk to someone you know who has written a resume before. That's probably your
best bet. Yeah, I guess I'll have to do that. Well, thanks anyway, and please put
me down for the appointment on Wednesday. Will do, and I will call you if anything
opens up sooner. Have a great day. Now answer the questions. One:
Why does the student go to the Career Center? Two: why is the student upset that the
resume review is only on Thursdays? Three: Why does the student take the
appointment with a career advisor on Wednesday even though it's after his
application is due? Four: What will the student do, since he is
unable to get help from the career center before his job application is due? Five: How does the student feel after his
conversation with the career center receptionist? Now listen to part of a talk in an economics
class. Now class, I'd like to start off by
discussing the reading. So, who can tell me about Adam Smith? He wrote The Wealth of Nations, right? Bingo. Adam Smith wrote The Wealth of Nations,
and why is that such an important book, Natalie? Well, Adam Smith has been called
the father of economics and The Wealth of Nations was the first book to
introduce the idea of the division of labor, which is like, pretty much the
model of most industries Well said, Natalie. Adam Smith's Wealth of
Nations was the first comprehensive take on modern economic theory, and by modern I mean the late 18th century. The book was published in 1776. Smith introduced
the concept of the division of labor, which means that the way a good or
service is produced is divided into a number of tasks that are performed by
different workers, instead of all the tasks being done by the same person.
To illustrate the division of labor, Smith counted how many tasks went into
making a pin: drawing out a piece of wire, cutting it to the right length,
straightening it, putting a head on one end and a point on the other, and
packaging pins for sale, to name just a few.
Smith counted 18 distinct tasks that were often done by different people - all
for a single pin, believe it or not. Now modern manufacturing companies still
follow the same principle. They divide each individual task in the production
of a given object. Even a relatively simple business like a restaurant
divides up the tasks of serving meals into a range of jobs. I'm sorry professor,
I don't understand what makes the division of labor so special. Why is it
important that Adam Smith pointed this out in his book? Well, nowadays, we are
used to working in companies where we each are given a specific role to fill,
but this idea was revolutionary in the 18th century. Adam Smith was the first to
really understand and explain why the division of labor was and is so
important. When the tasks involved with producing a good or service are divided,
workers and businesses can produce a greater quantity. In his observations of
pin factories, for example, Smith observed that one worker alone might make twenty
pins in a day, but that a small business of ten workers who each needed to do
just two or three of the 18 separate tasks could make 48,000 pins in a day.
How can a group of workers, each specializing in certain tasks, produce so
much more than the same number of workers who try to produce the entire
good or service by themselves? I think I remember from the reading that Smith
mentioned specialization is important. That's right Natalie, well, that's one of
the three reasons stated by Smith, actually, but it's a good place to
start. Specialization in a particular small job
allows workers to focus on the parts of the production process where they have
an advantage. People have different skills, talents, and interests, so they
will be better at some jobs than at others. Whatever the reason, if people
specialized in the production of what they do best, they will be more
productive than if they produce a lot of combinations of things, some of which
they are good at and some of which they're not. Smith's second point is that
workers who specialize in certain tasks often learn to produce more quickly and
with higher quality. This pattern holds true for many workers, including assembly
line laborers who build cars, stylists who cut hair, and doctors who perform
heart surgery. In fact, specialized workers often know their jobs well
enough to suggest innovative ways to do their work faster and better.
Specialization also allows businesses to take advantage of economies of scale,
maybe I should write that on the board, right. So economies of scale means that
for many goods, as the level of production increases, the average cost of
producing each individual unit declines. For example, if a factory produces only
100 cars per year, each car will be quite expensive
make on average. However, if a factory produces 50,000 cars each year, then it
can set up an assembly line with huge machines and workers performing
specialized tasks, and the average cost of the production per car will be lower. Now answer the questions. One: What is the lecture mainly about? Two: How does the professor organize his
lecture? Three: What is the professor implying
when he says this, "That's right Natalie, well, that's one of
the three reasons stated by Smith, actually, but it's a good place to
start". Four: According to the lecture, what
example de Smith provide in order to describe the division of labor in his
book? Five: What is the professor imply about
Smith's concept of the division of labor? Six: According to the lecture, what is
specialization? Now listen to part of a talk in an
American history class. So America looked a lot different back
in the early 19th century. Most Americans lived on the east coast populating
cities like New York, Boston, and Philadelphia. However, there was still
plenty of land west, across the Mississippi and stretching all the way
to the western shores of the Pacific Ocean, in areas around present-day
California. The American government wanted to get people to start moving out
of the east coast and migrating west to settle these lands and create new
villages, towns, and settlements. The Homestead Act of the 19th century gave a free land for any brave pioneers who were willing to migrate west and settle in
the plains lands in modern-day states like Kansas, Nebraska, and the Dakota. Now, of the hundreds of thousands of settlers who moved west, the vast majority were
what we call homesteaders. These pioneers were mostly average families seeking
land and opportunity. Free land sounded like a great deal to many recent
immigrants who had difficulty finding work and had hardly any money to their
name. The promise of a piece of land to raise a family and call home sounded too
good to be true. And it was. You see, there was a reason why most of this land
remained unclaimed. It was unsettled and hard to farm. Still, the idea of a new
life was too good to miss for some. They settled throughout the land that now
makes up the Midwestern states of Wisconsin, Minnesota, Kansas, Nebraska, and the Dakotas. The weather and environment was terrible, and settlers struggled to
make out a living. The region typically had low rainfall and harsh temperatures
made the growing of crops almost impossible. Irrigation was a requirement,
but finding water and building adequate systems proved too difficult and
expensive for many farmers. The first houses built by Western settlers were
typically made of mud and sod with thatched roofs, as there was little wood
for building. Rain, when it arrived, presented constant problems for these
sod houses with mud falling into food, and pests, most notably lice, living in
the bedding. Weather patterns not only left the fields dry they also brought
tornadoes, droughts, blizzards and a huge amount of
insects. Farmers also faced the ever-present threat of debt and farm
foreclosure by the banks. While land was essentially free under the Homestead Act,
all other farm necessities cost money and were initially difficult to obtain
in the newly settled parts of the country where market economies did not
yet fully reach. Horses, farm animals, wagons, wells, fencing, seed, and
fertilizers were all critical to survival, but often hard to come by since
so few people lived in these areas. Railroads charged high rates for farm
equipment and farm animals, making it difficult to get goods or make a profit
on anything sent back east. Banks also charged high interest rates, and, in a
cycle that repeated itself year after year, farmers would borrow from the bank
with the intention of repaying their debt after the harvest. As the number of
farmers moving westward increased, the market price of their produce declined,
even as the value of the actual land increased. Each year, hard-working farmers
produced ever larger crops, flooding the markets and then driving prices down
even further. Although some understood the economics of supply and demand, none could control such forces. Eventually, the arrival of a more extensive railroad
network aided farmers, mostly by bringing much needed supplies such as lumber for
construction and new farm machinery. In turn, larger commercial farms began to
develop. Farmers in Minnesota, North Dakota and South Dakota hired migrant
farmers to grow wheat on large-scale farms. These enormous farms were
succeeding by the end of the century, but small family farms continued to suffer.
Although the land was nearly free, it cost close to a thousand dollars for the
necessary supplies to start up a farm, an impossible sum for most. Many people who were drawn out west for free land ended up as hired workers, working on other
farms for a daily wage. The frustration of small farmers grew, ultimately leading
to a revolt. But I'm getting ahead of myself. Let's take a closer look at... Now answer the questions. One: What is the lecture mainly about? Two: What was the purpose of the Homestead Act? Three: How does the professor organize
the lecture? Four: Why does the professor talk about the farmers' homes? Five: Why did many farmers end up needing a reasonable amount of money to be successful in the new land? Six: What eventually led to the
development of larger commercial farms? Ah You're still here. So congratulations, you
stayed to the end, woohoo. No, seriously though, congratulations.
Sitting through a TOEFL video online is not easy. And it means that you are a
motivated student. And you are the exact type of student that keeps us motivated
at TST Prep. So thank you, thank you for watching. And if you appreciate high
quality videos like this one, please visit our website tstprep.com where
you can find more TOEFL teachers, resources, and tests that are designed to
help you get your score as quickly and easily as possible. So thanks again for
watching guys, until next time, bye-bye.
