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$ TOEFL reading practice
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TOEFL Readings 20
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Galaxies are the major building blocks of the universe. A
galaxy is a giant family of
many millions of stars, and it is held together by its own
gravitational field. Most of the
material universe is organized into galaxies of stars,
together with gas and dust.
Line There are three main types of galaxy ; spiral, elliptical,
and irregular. The Milky
(5) Way is a spiral galaxy : a flattish disc of stars with two
spiral arms emerging from its
central nucleus. About one-quarter of all galaxies have this
shape. Spiral galaxies are
well supplied with the interstellar gas in which new stars
form ; as the rotating spiral
pattern sweeps around the galaxy it compresses gas and
dust, triggering the formation
of bright young stars in its arms. The elliptical galaxies
have a symmetrical elliptical or
(10) spheroidal shape with no obvious structure. Most of their
member stars are very old
and since ellipticals are devoid of interstellar gas, no new
stars are forming in them.
The biggest and brightest galaxies in the universe are
ellipticals with masses of about
1013 times that of the Sun; these giants may frequently be
sources of strong radio
emission, in which case they are called radio galaxies.
About two-thirds of all galaxies
(15) are elliptical. Irregular galaxies comprise about one-tenth
of all galaxies and they come
in many subclasses.
Measurement in space is quite different from
measurement on Earth. Some
terrestrial distances can be expressed as intervals of time :
the time to fly from one
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continent to another or the time it takes to drive to work, for
example. By comparison
(20) with these familiar yardsticks, the distances to the
galaxies are incomprehensibly large,
but they too are made more manageable by using a time
calibration, in this case the
distance that light travels in one year. On such a scale the
nearest giant spiral galaxy,
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the Andromeda galaxy, is two million light years away. The
most distant luminous
objects seen by telescopes are probably ten thousand
million light years away. Their
light was already halfway here before the Earth even
formed. The light from the nearby
Virgo galaxy set out when reptiles still dominated the
animal world.
40. The world "major" in line 1 is closest in meaning to
(A) intense
(B) principal
(C) huge
(D) unique
41. What does the second paragraph mainly discuss?
(A) The Milky Way
(B) Major categories of galaxies
(C) How elliptical galaxies are formed
(D) Difference between irregular and spiral galaxies
42. The word "which" in line 7 refers to
(A) dust
(B) gas
(C) pattern
(D) galaxy
43. According to the passage, new stars are formed in
spiral galaxies due to
(A) an explosion of gas
(B) the compression of gas and dust
(C) the combining of old stars
(D) strong radio emissions
44. The word "symmetrical" in line 9 is closest in meaning
to
(A) proportionally balanced
(B) commonly seen
(C) typical large
(D) steadily growing
45. The word "obvious" in line 10 is closest in meaning to
(A) discovered
(B) apparent
(C) understood
(D) simplistic
46. According to the passage, which of the following is
NOT true of
elliptical galaxies?
(A) They are the largest galaxies.
(B) They mostly contain old stars.
(C) They contain a high amount of interstellar gas.
(D) They have a spherical shape
47. Which of the following characteristics of radio galaxies
is mentioned
in the passage?
(A) They are a type of elliptical galaxy.
(B) They are usually too small to be seen with a
telescope
(C) They are closely related to irregular galaxies.
(D) They are not as bright as spiral galaxies.
48. What percentage of galaxies are irregular?
(A) 10%
(B) 25%
(C) 50%
(D) 75%
49. The word "they" in line 21 refers to
(A) intervals
(B) yardsticks
(C) distances
(D) galaxies
50. Why does the author mention the Virgo galaxy and the
Andromeda galaxy
in the third paragraph?
(A) To describe the effect that distance has on visibility
(B) To compare the ages of two relatively young galaxies
(C) To emphasize the vast distances of the galaxies from
Earth
(D) To explain why certain galaxies cannot be seen by a
telescope
Answers
40. B 41. B 42. B 43. B 44. A 45. B 46. C 47. A
48. A 49. C 50. C
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