SKILL 2: RECOGNISE THE ORGANISATION OF IDEAS

Example
If asked who invented the game of baseball, most Americans would probably reply that it was their belief that Ab-
ner Doubleday did. They believe this because the story about Doubleday is part of the tradition of baseball.
Doubleday was given credit for this invention early in the twentieth century when sporting-goods manufacturer
Spaulding inaugurated a commission to research the question of who invented baseball. In 1908, a report was
published by the commission in which Abner Doubleday, a U.S. Army officer from Cooperstown, New York,
was given credit for the invention of the game. The National Baseball Hall of Fame was established in Cooper-
stown in honor of Doubleday.
Today, most sports historians are in agreement that Doubleday really did not have much to do with the develop-
ment of baseball. Instead, baseball seems to be a close relative of the English game of rounders and probably has
English rather than American roots.

In this passage _______.

A. an idea is presented and then refuted
B. a concept is followed by examples
C. a cause is followed by an effect
D. a belief is supported with reasons

This question is about how the information is organized in the passage. To answer this question, it is necessary to
look at the main ideas of each of the three paragraphs. The main idea of the first paragraph is found in the first
sentence of the first paragraph: that if asked who invented the game of baseball, most Americans would probably re-
ply that it was their belief that Abner Doubleday did. The main idea of the second paragraph is found in the first
line of the second paragraph: that Doubleday was given credit for this invention. The main idea of the third para-
graph is found in the first line of the third paragraph: that most sports historians are in agreement that Doubleday
really did riot have much to do with the development of baseball. If you study the information in the first lines of
the paragraphs, you can determine that the third paragraph contradicts or refutes the information that is presented in
the first two paragraphs. Answer (A) is therefore the best answer to this question.

TOEFL EXERCISE 2:
Study each of the passages and choose the best answers to the questions that follow.

PASSAGE 1
Conflict within an organization is not always viewed as undesirable. In fact, various managers have idely divergent ideas
on the value that conflict can have.
According to the traditional view of conflict, conflict is harmful to an organization. Manaers with this traditional view
of conflict see it as their role in an organization to rid the organization of any possible sources of conflict.
The interactionist view of conflict, on the other hand, holds that conflict can serve an important function in an orga -
nization by reducing complacency among workers and causing positive changes to occur. Managers who hold an interac-
tionist view of conflict may actually take steps to stimulate conflict within the organization.

1. How is the information in the passage orga- D. Examples of conflict within organizations
nized? are presented
A. The origin of ideas about conflict is pre-
sented. 2. Which paragraph supports the view that organi-
B. Contrasting views of conflict are presented. zational conflict can be beneficial?
C. Two theorists discuss the strengths and A. 1
weaknesses of their views on conflict. B. 2
C. 3

PASSAGE 2
IQ, or intelligence quotient, is defined as the ratio of a person's mental age to chronological age, with the ratio
multiplied by 100 to remove the decimal. Chronological age is easily determined; mental age is generally measured by
some kind of standard test and is not so simple t o defi ne.
In theory, a standardized IQ test is set up to measure an individual's ability to perform intellectual operations such as
reasoning and problem solving. These intellectual operations are considered to represent intelligence.
In practice, it has been impossible to arrive at consensus as to which types of intellectual operations demonstrate
intelligence. Furthermore, it has been impossible to devise a test without cultural bias, which is to say that any IQ tests so
far proposed have been shown to reflect the culture of the test makers. Test takers from that culture would, it follows,
score higher on such a test than test takers from a different culture with equal intelligence.

3. What type of information is included in the first 4. Which paragraph describes the application of IQ
paragraph? in the real world.
A. An argument A. 1
B. A definition B. 2
C. An opinion C. 3
D. A theory
PASSAGE 3
 The largest lake in the western United States is the Great Salt Lake, an inland saltwater lake in northwestern Utah, just
outside the state capital of Salt Lake City. Rivers and streams feed into the Great Salt Lake, but none drain out of it; this has
a major influence on both the salt content and the size of the lake.
Although the Great Salt Lake is fed by freshwater streams, it is actually saltier than the oceans of the world. The salt
comes from the more than two million tons of minerals that flow into the lake each year from the rivers and
creeks that feed it. Sodium and chloride—the components of salt—comprise the large majority of the lake's
mineral content.
The Great Salt Lake can vary tremendously from its normal size of 1,700 square miles, depending on long-term
weather conditions. During periods of heavy rains, the size of the lake can swell tremendously from the huge
amounts of water flowing into the lake from its feeder rivers and streams; in 1980 the lake even reached a size
of 2,400 square miles. During periods of dry weather, the size of the lake decreases, sometimes drastically, due to
evaporation.

5. How is the information in the passage organized? Lake's size are given.
A. Two unusual characteristics of the Great Salt
Lake are discussed. 6. Which paragraph explains where the Great Salt
B. Contrasting theories about the Great Salt Lake gets its salt?
Lake's salt levels are presented. A. 1
C. The process by which the Great Salt Lake gets B. 2
its salt is outlined. C. 3
D. The reasons for the variations in the Great Salt

TOEFL EXERCISE (Skill 1 to Skill 2)

Study each of the passages and choose the best answers to the questions that follow.

PASSAGE 1
Common types of calendars can be based on the Sun or on the Moon. The solar calendar is based on
the solar year. Since the solar year is 365.2422 days long, solar calendars consist of regular years of 365
days and have an extra day every fourth year, or leap year, to make up for the additional fractional
amount. In a solar calendar, the waxing and waning of the Moon can take place at various stages of each
month.
The lunar calendar is synchronized to the lunar month rather than the solar year. Since the lunar
month is twenty-nine and a half days long, most lunar calendars have alternating months of twenty-nine and
thirty days. A twelve-month lunar year thus has 354 days, 11 days shorter than a solar year.

7. What is the main idea of the passage? A. Characteristics of the solar calendar are out-
A. All calendars are the same. lined.
B. The solar calendar is based on the Sun. B. Two types of calendars are described.
C. Different calendars have dissimilar bases. C. The strengths and weakness of the lunar calen-
D. The lunar month is twenty-nine and a half days dar are described.
long. D. The length of each existing calendar is con-
trasted.
8. How is the information in the passage organized?

PASSAGE 2
Vaccines are prepared from harmful viruses or bacteria and administered to patients to provide im-
munity to specific diseases. The various types of vaccines arc classified according to the method by which
they are derived.
The most basic class of vaccines actually contains disease-causing microorganisms that have been
killed with a solution containing formaldehyde. In this type of vaccine, the microorganisms are dead and
therefore cannot cause disease; however, the antigens found in and on the microorganisms can still
stimulate the formation of antibodies. Examples of this type of vaccine are the ones that light influenia,
typhoid fever, and cholera.
A second type of vaccine contains the toxins produced by the microorganisms rather than the
microorganisms themselves_ This type of vaccine is prepared when the microorganism itself does little
damage but the toxin within the microorganism is extremely harmful. For example, the bacteria that
cause diphtheria can thrive in the throat without much harm, but when toxins are released from the bacte -
ria. muscles can become paralyzed and death can ensue.
A final type of vaccine contains living microorganisms that have been rendered harmless. With this
type of vaccine. a large number of antigen molecules are Produced and the immunity that results is
generally longer lasting than the immunity from other types of vaccines. The Sabin oral antipolio vaccine
and the BCG vaccine against tuberculosis are examples of this type of vaccine.

9. Which of the following expresses the main A. Vaccines provide immunity to specific
idea of the passage: diseases.
 B. Vaccines contain disease-causing micro- A. 1
organisms. B. 2
C. Vaccines are derived in different ways. C. 3
D. New approaches in administering vaccines D. 4
are being developed.
12. Which paragraph discusses vaccines that do not con-
10. How many types of vaccines are pre- tain the disease-causing microorganism?
sented in the passage? A. 1
A. Two B. 2
B. Three C. 3
C. Four D. 4
D. Five

11. Which paragraph discusses vaccines made from

dead organisms?

PASSAGE 3
A hoax, unlike an honest error, is a deliberately-concocted plan to present an untruth as the truth. It can
take the form of a fraud, a fake, a swindle, or a forgery, and can be accomplished in almost any field: successful
hoaxes have been foisted on the public in fields as varied as politics, religion, science, art, and literature.
A famous scientific hoax occurred in 1912 when Charles Dawson claimed to have uncovered a human skull
and jawbone on the Piltdown Common in southern England. These human remains were said to be more than
500,000 years old and were unlike any other remains from that period; as such, they represented an important discov-
ery in the study of human evolution. These remains, popularly known as the Piltdown Man and scientifically
named Eoanthropus dawsoni after their discoverer, confounded scientists for several decades.
It took more than forty years for the hoax to be uncovered_ In 1953, a chemical analysis was used to date the
bones, and it was found that the bones were modern bones that had been skillfully aged. A further twist to the
hoax was that the skull belonged to a human and the jaws to an orangutan.

13. The topic of this passage could best be described

as _______. 15. Which paragraph defines a hoax?
A. the Piltdown Man A. 1
B . Charles Dawson's discovery B. 2
C. Eoanthropus dawsoni C. 3
D. a definition and example of a hoax
16. Which explains how one particular hoax was re-
14. The author's main point is that ______. solved?
A. various types of hoaxes have been perpetrated A. 1
B. Charles Dawson discovered a human B. 2
skull and jawbone C. 3
C. Charles Dawson was not an honest man
D. the human skull and jawbone were extremely old