https://www.examenglish.com/TOEFL/toefl_listening.

htm

1. The Bell Jar was

about her father

her first novel
a very successful collection of poems
her last poem

2. Sylvia Plath’s ‘Collected poems’

won the Pulitzer Prize twenty years after it was published

were written during the last year of her life
won the Pulitzer Prize in 1982
were never published

3. Sylvia’s husband

made movies
died in 2003
was also a poet
had a movie made about him

4. Susan Bassnett thought Sylvia’s work

was about her husband

wasn’t very good
was about work life
was of great interest to women

5. Sylvia’s brother

was two years older than her

was born two years after her
was a professor at Boston University
was a highly educated academic
6. Sylvia Plath’s time at college was difficult because

she got bad grades

she won a scholarship
boys didn’t like her
she was short of money

7. In 1953 Sylvia

left New York to get a job as an editor

rejected an offer to teach creative writing
worked as a guest editor in New York
returned to new York because she was depressed

8. What does the lecturer imply when she says “Very few modern
poets have captured the popular imagination as much as Plath”

Plath was able to understand the hopes of ordinary people.

Plath has become very popular
It is unusual for a modern poet to become popular with ordinary
people.
Plath’s writing was about modern people and their imagination.

9. What does the lecturer imply when she says “This domineering
father figure became a common theme that recurred throughout
Plath’s writing.”

The image of her father appears in many of her poems.

Plath often wrote of her love for her father.
Plath writings were dominated by the image of her father.
Plath’s father often told her what to write about.

10. Which THREE sentences best summarise the passage?

 A What's remarkable about Plath's work is that it addresses
many women's issues that were ahead of her time.
B Plath's father was one of her guiding influences and he
supported and mentored her until he died in 1940.
C Plath's early life was spent living happily by the sea with her
mother who had a part time job to support the family.
D The real significance and the greatness of work was never
recognised within in her lifetime.
E Plath's academic path to success was secured by winning an
early scholarship. After this she never looked back.
F Plath's work reflects the many of the personal difficulties that
she had whilst growing up and later as a wife and mother.

https://www.examenglish.com/TOEFL/
TOEFL_listening_conversation1.htm

1. When is this conversation taking place?

A) July
B) before term starts
C) at the beginning of term
D) midway through a term

2. Whose mistake was it that led to the problem?

A) The student’s
B) The warden’s
C) Godfrey White’s
D) The accommodation office

3. Where is the YMCA on the map?

A
B
 C
D

4. Which of the following TWO things does the accommodation

officer provide for the student?

a telephone
a map
information about bus routes
a pen

5. Match the information to the type of accommodation.

A) University Dormitories
B) Private Houses
C) YMCA

https://www.examenglish.com/B2/b2_listening_traffic_report.htm

1 What is the problem on the M1 southbound?

road closure
breakdown

2 What is the problem on the M25 clockwise?

roadworks
heavy traffic
3 What is the problem with the East Coast rail line?

fallen tree
engineering works

4 Will the following people experience delays?

Choose Yes or No.
Harry plans to travel eastbound along the M8 between
junctions 16 and 15.

Yes
No

5 Denise wants to travel southbound along the M1

between junctions 24a and 24.

Yes
No

6 Archie plans to travel westbound between junction

20 and junction 21.

Yes
No

7 Ruth intends to travel clockwise around the M25

between junctions 25 to 28.

Yes
No

8 Louise wants to travel on the Northern Rail route

between Haydon Bridge and Bardon Mill.

Yes
No

9 Carlos is planning to travel on the East Coast rail

line between Edinburgh Waverley and Kirkcaldy.
 Yes
No

Vocabulary exercises

1. Receptors for the sense of smell are located at the top of the nasal
cavity.
A. A. upper end
B. B. inner edge
C. C. mouth
D. D. division
2. Passenger ships and aircraft are often equipped with ship-to-shore
or air-to-land radio telephones.
A. A. highways
B. B. railroads
C. C. airplanes
D. D. sailboats
3. Dotting the marshy expanse of the Florida Everglades are little
islands known locally as hummocks.
A. A. generally
B. B. to all
C. C. in that area
D. D. occasionally
4. It is not possible for people to recall everything that they have
thought, felt, or done.
A. A. remember
B. B. appreciate
C. C. repeat
D. D. discuss
5. When preparing a diet, a person should be aware that vitamin D
acts to increase the amount of calcium absorbed by the body.
A. A. schedule of exercise
B. B. nutritional plan
 C. C. study of longevity
D. D. medicinal chart

VOCABULARY

abundant - adj. present in large quantities

accumulate - v. to gradually collect

accurate - adj. correct; free from errors

accustomed - adj. used to something

acquire - v. to come into possession of

adamant - adj. refusing to change an opinion

adequate - adj. enough to suit your needs

Reading Comprehension
Directions
In this section you will read several passages. Each one is followed by
several questions. You are to choose the one best answer, A, B, C or D,
to each question.
Answer all questions about the information in a passage on the basis of
what is statedor implied in that passage.
Passage

1. A new atomic clock being developed for navigation

2. satellites will perform better than previous devices. The
3. clock will use a new microwave cavity design to
4. provide a compact and lightweight package and new
5. electronic techniques to maintain long-term stability.
6. The clock can provide precise navigation information
7. because it is stable to one second in three million
8. years. The differences in the time when signals from
9. four satellites arrive at one location can be used to
10. calculate that position to within a few yards.
Example
From the passage, it can be inferred that which of the following
characteristics of the clock mentioned will be most impressive?

A. Its compact size

B. Its weight
C. Its accuracy
D. Its ability to measure distance
The passage discusses that the navigation information provided by
the clock is very precise. Therefore, you should choose answer C.
Practice Questions 6–8

6. It can be inferred from the passage that the new clock will be
A. A. long-lasting
B. B. harmful to humans
C. C. produced in great numbers
D. D. very attractive looking

7. According to the passage, signals from how many satellites will be

used to calculate a position?
A. A. 1
B. B. 2
C. C. 3
D. D. 4

8. What is the primary purpose of the passage?

A. A. To teach a lesson
B. B. To sell a product
C. C. To support a theory
D. D. To provide information
Robert Capa

1. Robert Capa is a name that has for many years been

synonymous with war photography.
2. Born in Hungary in 1913 as Friedmann Endre Ernő, Capa was
forced to leave his native country after his involvement in anti
government protests. Capa had originally wanted to become a
writer, but after his arrival in Berlin had first found work as a
photographer. He later left Germany and moved to France due to
the rise in Nazism. He tried to find work as a freelance journalist and
it was here that he changed his name to Robert Capa, mainly
because he thought it would sound more American.
3. In 1936, after the breakout of the Spanish Civil war, Capa went to
Spain and it was here over the next three years that he built his
reputation as a war photographer. It was here too in 1936 that he
took one of his most famous pictures, The Death of a Loyalist
Soldier. One of Capa’s most famous quotes was 'If your pictures
aren't good enough, you're not close enough.' And he took his
attitude of getting close to the action to an extreme. His
photograph, The Death of a Loyalist Soldier is a prime example of
this as Capa captures the very moment the soldier falls. However,
many have questioned the authenticity of this photograph, claiming
that it was staged.
4. When World war II broke out, Capa was in New York, but he was
soon back in Europe covering the war for Life magazine. Some of
his most famous work was created on 6th June 1944 when he swam
ashore with the first assault on Omaha Beach in the D-Day invasion
of Normandy. Capa, armed only with two cameras, took more than
one hundred photographs in the first hour of the landing, but a
mistake in the darkroom during the drying of the film destroyed all
but eight frames. It was the images from these frames however that
inspired the visual style of Steven Spielberg's Oscar winning movie
‘Saving Private Ryan’. When Life magazine published the
photographs, they claimed that they were slightly out of focus, and
Capa later used this as the title of his autobiographical account of
the war.
5. Capa’s private life was no less dramatic. He was friend to many of
Hollywood’s directors, actors and actresses. In 1943 he fell in love
with the wife of actor John Austin. His affair with her lasted until the
end of the war and became the subject of his war memoirs. He was
at one time lover to actress Ingrid Bergman. Their relationship finally
ended in 1946 when he refused to settle in Hollywood and went off
to Turkey.
6. In 1947 Capa was among a group of photojournalists who
founded Magnum Photos. This was a co-operative organisation set
up to support photographers and help them to retain ownership of
the copyright to their work.
7. Capa went on to document many other wars. He never attempted
to glamorise war though, but to record the horror. He once said,
"The desire of any war photographer is to be put out of business."
8. Capa died as he had lived. After promising not to photograph any
more wars, he accepted an assignment to go to Indochina to cover
the first Indochina war. On May 25th 1954 Capa was accompanying
a French regiment when he left his jeep to take some photographs
of the advance and stepped on a land mine. He was taken to a
nearby hospital, still clutching his camera, but was pronounced dead
on arrival. He left behind him a testament to the horrors of war and a
standard for photojournalism that few others have been able to
reach.
9. Capa’s legacy has lived on though and in 1966 his brother Cornell
founded the International Fund for Concerned Photography in his
honor. There is also a Robert Capa Gold Medal, which is given to
the photographer who publishes the best photographic reporting
from abroad with evidence of exceptional courage. But perhaps his
greatest legacy of all are the haunting images of the human
struggles that he captured.

1 Why did Capa change his name?

To hide his identity
Because he had been involved in protests
To sound more American
Because he had to leave Hungary

2 Capa originally wanted to be

A photojournalist
A writer
American
A protestor

3 Capa went to Spain to

fight in the civil war.
build his reputation.
 have a holiday.
take photographs.

4 Capa’s famous picture Death of a Loyalist Soldier

was taken by someone else.
was definitely genuine.
wasn’t even taken in Spain.
cannot be proven genuine or staged.

5 When World War II broke out Capa

went to New York.
swam ashore on Omaha Beach.
went to Europe.
went to Normandy.

6 A mistake meant that

only one hundred of Capa’s photographs were published.
Capa lost both of his two cameras.
Capa’s images inspired an Oscar winning movie.
Most of Capa’s images of the D-Day landing were destroyed.

7 Capa’s private life was

less dramatic than his professional life.
spent mostly in Hollywood.
very glamorous.
spent in Turkey.

8 Capa wanted his work to

be very famous.
show how glamorous war can be.
show the true horror of war.
make lots of money.

9 Which sentence best paraphrases paragraph 5?

Capa had a tragic private life and was never able to settle down
and find happiness.
 Despite having many good friends and lovers, Capa always put
his work first.
Capa wanted to make friends with important people in
Hollywood so that he could move into the movie industry.
Capa’s private life was very complicated. He could not choose
between the two women he loved, so he went off to work in Turkey.

10 Which sentence best paraphrases paragraph 4?

Capa never tried to avoid danger. He risked his life to take
photographs of the D-Day invasion, but then destroyed most of
them.
Capa took some of his most famous photographs during the D-
Day invasion, but most were tragically destroyed in an accident.
Capa only kept the best eight D-Day photographs as the others
were out of focus. These inspired the visual style of a Hollywood
film.
Capa left Europe when the war broke out and went to take his
most famous photographs of the D-Day invasion.

HOMEWORK CORRECTING

Write a text talking about your week using the past simple and the past
continuous forms. Try to introduce the future.

In this week I am participating in a event in the Program of Social

Psychology in the PUC. The name of the event is “Psycology and Social
Commitment”. Today was the opening table with the participation of
Guilherm Boulos, a pre candidate to the republic presidence. I went to the
event in the morning ; but when I was lunching, by the way, in the
evening I decided back to home for keep studing a little more of english,
once in this last days I had not studied so much. At least, I hope keep
participating in the event, and tomorrow I will going to presentate my
recent research in part of the programation. This presentation is very
importante for me in this moment because I need to talk about the issues
wich has coming up during the process of surveying.
This week I am participating an event in the Program of Social Psychology
at PUC. The name of the event is (the event is named/called) “Psycology
and Social Commitment”. Today was the opening table with the
participation of Guilherm Boulos, a pre candidate to the republic
presidence. I went to the event in the morning; but when I was lunching,
by the way, in the evening (when I was having a lunch in the evening) I
decided to go back to/(/) home to keep studing a little more of english,
once in this last days I had not studied so much. At least, I hope I keep
participating the event, and tomorrow I will presentate/ I am going to
presentate my recent research in part of the programation. This
presentation is very important to me in this moment because I need to
talk about the issues that/which have been coming up during the process
of surveying.