Sample Questions About Reading (TOEFL)

Directions:  These sample questions in the Reading section measure your ability to understand academic passages in English. You will read one passage and answer questions about it. In a real test, you would have 20 minutes to read the passage and answer the questions. Candidates with disabilities may request a time extension.

Practice Questions 1–10

The Alaska pipeline starts at the frozen edge of the

Arctic Ocean. It stretches southward across the largest

and northernmost state in the United States, ending at

a remote ice-free seaport village nearly 800 miles from

where it begins. It is massive in size and extremely

complicated to operate.

The steel pipe crosses windswept

plains and endless miles of delicate tundra that tops

the frozen ground. It weaves through crooked canyons,

climbs sheer mountains, plunges over rocky crags,

makes its way through thick forests, and passes over or

under hundreds of rivers and streams. The pipe is 4 feet in

diameter, and up to 2 million barrels (or 84 million

gallons) of crude oil can be pumped through it daily.

Resting on H-shaped steel racks called "bents," long

sections of the pipeline follow a zigzag course high

above the frozen earth. Other long sections drop out of

sight beneath spongy or rocky ground and return to the

surface later on. The pattern of the pipeline's up-and-

down route is determined by the often harsh demands

of the arctic and subarctic climate, the tortuous lay of

the land, and the varied compositions of soil, rock, or

permafrost (permanently frozen ground). A little more

than half of the pipeline is elevated above the ground.

The remainder is buried anywhere from 3 to 12 feet,

depending largely upon the type of terrain and the

properties of the soil.

One of the largest in the world, the pipeline cost

approximately $8 billion and is by far the biggest

and most expensive construction project ever

undertaken by private industry. In fact, no single

business could raise that much money, so eight major oil

companies formed a consortium in order to share

the costs. Each company controlled oil rights to

particular shares of land in the oil fields and paid

into the pipeline-construction fund according to the

size of its holdings. Today, despite enormous

problems of climate, supply shortages, equipment

breakdowns, labor disagreements, treacherous

terrain, a certain amount of mismanagement, and

even theft, the Alaska pipeline has been completed

and is operating.

1. The passage primarily discusses the pipeline's
   1. A. operating costs
   2. B. employees
   3. C. consumers
   4. D. construction
2. The word "it" in line 5 refers to the
   1. A. pipeline
   2. B. ocean
   3. C. state
   4. D. village
3. According to the second paragraph, 84 million gallons of oil can travel through the pipeline each
   1. A. day
   2. B. week
   3. C. month
   4. D. year
4. The phrase "Resting on" in line 15 is closest in meaning to
   1. A. Consisting of
   2. B. Supported by
   3. C. Passing under
   4. D. Protected with
5. The author mentions all of the following in the third paragraph as important in determining the pipeline's route EXCEPT the
   1. A. climate
   2. B. lay of the land itself
   3. C. local vegetation
   4. D. kind of soil and rock
6. The word "undertaken" in line 31 is closest in meaning to
   1. A. removed
   2. B. selected
   3. C. transported
   4. D. attempted
7. According to the last paragraph, how many companies shared the costs of constructing the pipeline?
   1. A. three
   2. B. four
   3. C. eight
   4. D. twelve
8. The word "particular" in line 35 is closest in meaning to
   1. A. peculiar
   2. B. specific
   3. C. exceptional
   4. D. equal
9. According to the last paragraph, which of the following determined what percentage of the construction costs each member of the consortium would pay?
   1. A. How much oil field land each company owned
   2. B. How long each company had owned land in the oil fields
   3. C. How many people worked for each company
   4. D. How many oil wells were located on the company's land
10. Where in the passage does the author provide a term for a layer of soil that always remains frozen?
1. A. Line 4
2. B. Line 15
3. C. Line 23
4. D. Line 37

Source : https://www.ets.org/toefl_itp/content/sample_questions/level1_section3_reading_comprehension