TOEFL Questions

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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.
In finance, a __________ is an instrument of indebtedness of the issuer to the holders. The ___________ is a debt security, under which the issuer owes the holders a debt and is obliged to pay them interest (the coupon) or to repay the principal at a later date, termed the maturity date. Interest is usually payable at fixed intervals (semi- annual, annual, sometimes monthly). Very often it is negotiable, that is, the ownership of the instrument can be transferred in the secondary market. This means that once the transfer agents at the bank medallion stamp the same, it is highly liquid on the secondary market. Thus, a __________ is a form of loan or IOU.

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.

whether it will be able to hold its _____.

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?

'Scouring up things' means ________.

In the following question, out of the four alternatives, select the alternative which best expresses the meaning of the idiom/phrase.

The nitty-gritty

In the following question, out of the four alternatives, select the alternative which is the best substitute of the words/sentence.

Kill someone by covering their nose and mouth so that they suffocate

In the following question, out of the four alternatives, select the alternative which is the best substitute of the words/sentence.

Senseless talk or writing

In the following question, out of the given four alternatives, select the one which best expresses the meaning of the given word.

Barbarous

In the following question, a sentence has been given in Direct/Indirect speech. Out of the four alternatives suggested, select the one which best express the same sentence in Indirect/Direct speech.

He said to Raina,"I cannot marry you now but I shall surely do so next year."