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| explicit vs implicit |
Hard information questions and inference questions require you to locate details that are not explicitly stated in the text. To uncover implicit information, it's essential to identify key words or sentences and then interpret them within the broader context. This skill improves with practice. Master the skills by studying Dr. Byrnes TOEFL Reading. These are the questions we examine today.
Question 1 (hard)
What do the runoff channels tell us about Mars?
The atmosphere of Mars was once thinner than it is today.
Large amounts of rain once fell on parts of Mars.
The river systems of Mars were once more extensive than Earth's.
The rivers of Mars began to dry up about 4 billion years ago.
So, we need to look for sentences that contain runoff. This process is called scanning. This is the passage:
Photographic evidence suggests that liquid water once existed in great quantity on the surface of Mars. Two types of flow features are seen: runoff channels and outflow channels. Runoff channels are found in the southern highlands. These flow features are extensive systems—sometimes hundreds of kilometers in total length—of interconnecting, twisting channels that seem to merge into larger, wider channels. They bear a strong resemblance to river systems on Earth, and geologists think that they are dried-up beds of long-gone rivers that once carried rainfall on Mars from the mountains down into the valleys. Runoff channels on Mars speak of a time 4 billion years ago (the age of the Martian highlands), when the atmosphere was thicker, the surface warmer, and liquid water widespread.
The passage begins with two types of geographic features of Mars that suggest that liquid water once existed in great quantity on the surface of Mars: runoff channels and outflow channels. But as we quickly scan the passage, we can see that the whole paragraph is about runoff channels. These are the characteristics of the run-off channels:
Liquid water once ( = 4 billion years ago) flew in great quantity on the surface of Mars, as evidence by runoff channels and outflow channels
Runoff channels are found in the southern highlands.
They bear a strong resemblance to river systems on Earth
They are dried-up beds of long-gone rivers that once carried rainfall on Mars from the mountains down into the valleys.
From 1, we know that a lot of water flew through the run-off channels. With this information, we should wonder where the water came from. From 4 and 2, we know that
the water that flew the runoff channel = a great quantity of rain fell in the southern highlands, 4 billion years ago.
B corresponds to this idea. A, C and D are false. The atmosphere was thicker, the river systems of Mars were similar to the earth’s, and the rivers of Mars existed 4 billion years ago.
Answer：B
Question 2 (medium)
The smashing of pottery during feasts supports which of the following about pottery owners?
They sought to show respect to their guests by offering valuable items as a gesture of hospitality.
They employed these rituals as a means of commemorating the craftsmanship of pottery artisans.
Their priority lay in upholding their social standing over preserving their intricate and costly pottery.
They adhered to the belief that reusing pottery was unacceptable, as it might be seen as disrespectful to their guests.
Look for the “smashing of pottery during feasts” in the passage:
Ceramic vessels have a number of important qualities that make them prestigious objects to own and ideal containers for serving food to guests. At the outset, the potter's art would have been difficult to master; clay had to be carefully selected, tempers (materials added to clay to reduce its plasticity)prepared, and construction and firing techniques explored, practiced, and refined. Neighbors and other visitors would have been struck with the amount of labor and skill required to produce a pottery vessel. The display of novel forms with fancy decoration would have impressed them even more. Most striking of all might have been the dramatic smashing of vessels during feasts as an ostentatious display of wealth.
The first challenge for this question can be the meaning of vessel, which mostly means a boat or blood vessel. But a vessel can also mean a container like a bowl.
The word “as” indicates this:
smashing of pottery during feasts = an ostentatious display of wealth
The dramatic smashing of pottery during feasts was used to show off how wealthy the owner of the poetry was. With this, you can evaluate the choices.
A: It was not for hospitality: hospitality = treating guests nicely and generously.
B: It was not to celebrate the skills of pottery makers
C: Upholding the social status is similar to showing off their wealth. So C is good.
D is not mentioned.
C is the most consistent with the ostentatious display of wealth.
Answer: C
Question 3 (hard)
Which of the following is true about the impact site of the meteorite that hit the earth at the end of the Cretaceous period?
Scientists knew about the impact site, but they did not know when the impact happened prior to 1980.
The scientists at the University of California, Berkeley, were able to vindicate their hypothesis at the time they proposed the hypothesis in 1980.
Hilderbrand proposed that a massive comet or asteroid might have struck the earth about 65 million years ago.
The incident of the impact was known before the impact site was known.
This is he passage:
In 1980, scientists at the University of California, Berkeley, geologist Walter Alvarez and his father, Nobel Prize-winning scientist Luis Walter Alvarez, proposed that a massive comet or asteroid might have struck the earth about 65 million years ago, changing the earth's climate so drastically that dinosaurs and other creatures could no longer survive. The scientists inferred the impact from the worldwide layer of sediment deposited from the dust cloud that might have enveloped the planet after the impact. This sediment layer is enriched in the rare metal iridium that is relatively abundant in a meteorite but very rare in the crust of Earth. The proposal was contentious as it lacked the critical evidence, the impact site. In 1981, University of Arizona graduate student Alan R. Hildebrand and faculty adviser William V. Boynton began to seek a candidate impact site. By 1990, Hildebrand was sure that the impact site was submerged beneath the Yucatan peninsula and centered on the Mexican village of Chicxulub. Material drilled from this crater has been linked chemically and geologically to pellets found in Northeast Mexico and Haiti. The link between this ejecta material and the crater was confirmed by a report that the Chicxulub melt rock and pellets are coeval, all having ages consistent with 65 million years. This puts the possible impact at the K-T boundary -- the dividing line between the Cretaceous period of the dinosaurs and the Tertiary period of the mammals.
This information is elaborated in the passage:
In 1980, some scientists proposed the impact theory of a comet, based on the evidence of worldwide deposit of iridium.
The proposal was not accepted because it lacked the critical evidence, the impact site.
In 1990, some other scientists found the impact site
A is not true. Scientists knew neither prior to 1980.
B is not true since they could not provide the critical evidence, the impact site.
C is not true since the proposal was made by the Alvarezes.
D is true.
Answer: D
Question 4 (medium)
