TOEFL Questions

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Read the following passage carefully and choose the most appropriate answer to the question out of the four alternatives.

In short, to write a good letter you must approach the job in the lightest and most casual way. You must be personal, not abstract. You must not say, 'This is too small a thing to put down'. You must say, 'This is just the sort of small thing we talk about at home. If I tell them this they will see me, as it were they'll hear my voice, they'll know what I'm talking about'. That is the purpose of a letter. Carlyle had the trick to perfection. He is writing from Scotsbrig to his brother Alec in Canada and he begins talking about his mother. Good old Mother, he says, 'she is even now sitting at my back, trying at another table to write you a small word with her own hand; the first time she has tried such a thing for a year past. It is Saturday night, after dark; we are in the east room in a hard, dry evening with a bright fire to our two selves; Jenny and her Barns are 'scouring up things' in the other end of the house; and below stairs the winter operations of the farm go on, in a subdued tone; you can conceive the scene! How simple it is and yet how perfect. Can not you see Alec reading it in his far-off home and his eyes moistening at the picture of his old mother sitting and writing her last message to him on earth?

Subdued tone means _______.

Read the following passage and complete the paragraph with the help of correct options given below.
Working overseas is always a challenge for any professional and if you are an Indian, always strive to give-your best as Indians have always been considered intelligent, hardworking, talented and spiritual.
Working overseas was something many Indians desired but few achieved until the information technology boom opened several white-collar job opportunities for them in global markets. However, securing employment abroad may be an achievement but retaining it is quite a challenge as a professional requires constant demonstration of professionalism and exact the standards of competence.

Read the following passage carefully and choose the most appropriate answer to the question out of the four alternatives.

Most economists in the United States seem captivated by the spell of the free market. Consequently, nothing seems good or normal that does not accord with the requirements of the free market. A price that is determined by the seller or, for that matter (for that matter: so far as that is concerned), established by anyone other than the aggregate of consumers seems pernicious. Accordingly, it requires a major act of will to think of price-fixing (the determination of prices by the seller) as both "normal" and having a valuable economic function. In fact, price-fixing is normal in all industrialized societies because the industrial system itself provides, as an effortless consequence of its own development, the price-fixing that it requires. Modern industrial planning requires and rewards great size. Hence, a comparatively small number of large firms will be competing for the same group of consumers. That each large firm will act with consideration of its own needs and thus avoid selling its products for more than its competitors charge is commonly recognized by advocates of free-market economic theories. But each large firm will also act with full consideration of the needs that it has in common with the other large firms competing for the same customers.

Price-fixing is a phenomenon that is normal in -

In the following passage, some of the words have been left out. Read the passage carefully and select the correct answer for the given blank out of the four alternatives.

A brain and nervous system that are poorly developed or insufficiently nourished means low grade of ______________ in our mental processes, just as a poorly constructed or wrongly adjusted motor means loss of power in applying the electric current to its work. We will, __________, look upon the mind and the brain as counterparts of ___________ other, each performing activities which correspond to activities in the other, ________ inextricably bound together at least so far as this life is concerned, and each getting its _______________ by its union with the other. This view will lend interest to a brief study of the brain and nervous system.

nourished means low grade of ______________ in our mental processes

In the following passage some of the words have been left out. Read the passage carefully and choose the correct answer for the given blank out of the four alternatives.

We have rich cultural _____ . Its roots go into _____. Ours has never been a closed ______. It has _______ just like a tree, ______ to external ______ but holding its roots _______. But one wonders today whether it will be able to hold its _____. The ______ of our cultural heritage has come under the _____ of western culture.

We have rich cultural _____ .

In the following question, out of the four alternatives, select the alternative which will improve the bracketed part of the sentence. In case no improvement is needed, select "no improvement".

We, all of us, (are compromise) the moment we’re living in.

Four statements are given below at A, B, C and D. There may be some errors in the given statement(s). The incorrect statement is your answer.

A passage with three blanks, followed by five options, each containing one word, is given. Choose the word that can fill all the three blanks.
Emission ____________ are the legal requirements governing air pollutants released into the atmosphere. Emission ___________ set quantitative limits on the permissible amount of specific air pollutants that may be released from specific sources over specific timeframes. They are generally designed to achieve air quality standards and to protect human life. Many emissions ____________ focus on regulating pollutants released by automobiles (motor cars) and other powered vehicles. Others regulate emissions from industry, power plants, small equipment such as lawn mowers and diesel generators, and other sources of air pollution. While this have been used to dictate limits for conventional pollutants such as oxides of nitrogen and oxides of sulphur (NOx and SOx), this regulatory technique may be used to regulate greenhouse gasses, particularly carbon dioxide (CO2). In the US, this is given in pounds of carbon dioxide per megawatt-hour (lbs. CO2/MWhr), and kilograms CO2/MWhr elsewhere.