1.

ANSWER MAIN IDEA QUESTIONS CORRECTLY

TEXT 1
The Gladiator full-size pickup was ahead of its time in many ways. It was marketed and
sold primarily as a four-wheel-drive truck, yet it was offered with an innovative single-
overheadcam six-cylinder engine and independent front suspension that was advanced for its
time.
The history of the Gladiator starts with the Jeep pickup that preceded it, which was built
off the chassis of the 1946-62 Jeep station wagon. A rugged and reliable truck, the Jeep station
wagon and pickups were a four-wheeldrive alternative to the Spartan Jeep CJ’s from that era.
With simple and robust drive trains, they competed against few vehicles in the emerging four-
wheel-drive marketplace, one that was moving from its utilitarian postwar beginnings toward
dual-purpose trucks aimed at a growing recreational market.
In the late 1950s, Jeep designers and engineers were already looking forward to develop a
platform that would end up serving four different corporate masters – Willys Motors, Kaiser-
Jeep, American Motors Corp. and Chrysler – over the next three decades. The chassis for the
Jeep Gladiator (SJ platform) was developed concurrently and shared with the granddaddy of the
modern SUV, the Jeep Wagoneer.
Although the overall Wagoneer/Gladiator design was often attributed to industrial
designer Brooks Stevens, in reality his main contribution to the design was the upright grille,
often referred to as the “rhino grille” found on the early 1963-65 Wagoneers and the Gladiator
trucks up to 1970. In 1971, after Jeep was purchased by American Motors, the Gladiator adopted
what was then the fullwidth, vertically slotted grille found on the then-current Wagoneer, which
got a more upscale grille itself.
http://news.pickuptrucks.com/2012/09/classicpickup- 1963-1971-jeep-gladiator.html

1. What is the the best topic for the text above?

A. The best design of Gladiator
B. The history of Gladiator pick-up
C. Types of full-sized pickup
D. The emerging of pickup in 1900s era
E. Jeep from era to era
TEXT 2
The great eruptions of Mount Merapi began more than a month ago. The severe damages
caused by the impacts of the volcanic eruptions have drawn a great deal of attention from both
the national and international media. The month-long eruptions have killed more than 200
people, displaced over 100,000 residents, killed over 1,000 livestock and destroyed over 1,000
hectares of productive farming fields.
Reports and ideas for rehabilitation and reconstruction of residential areas and public
infrastructure have been offered by many concerned parties. However, little attention has been
given to Merapi’s impacts on farming and rehabilitation of farming activities. Farming has
historically been the custom of people living around Mt. Merapi, with villagers involved in
planting rice, corn, cassava and a wide variety of fruits and vegetables. Small holder plantations
cultivating snake fruit, banana, coffee and coconut have long existed in the area. Villagers also
raise various species of livestock, such as dairy cows, cattle and goats.
Villagers with favorable water resources in nearby Sleman regency and some parts of
Magelang regency have also been conducting business through fish farming and trade. The most
traumatic damage to farming has bee mostly caused by ash and hot clouds. Areas located near
the center of the eruptions, Sleman in Yogyakarta and Magelang, Klaten, and Boyolali, in
Central Java, have been seriously damaged, with the farming sector having suffered the most.
2. The main idea of the text above is….
A. The volcanic eruption
B. Rehabilitation conducted after Merapi’s eruption
C. The impacts of Mount Merapi’s eruption
D. Reconstruction of residential areas and public infrastructure
E. Disabled activities after Merapi’s eruption
TEXT 3
Alfred Bernhard Nobel, a Swedish inventor and philanthropist, bequeathed most of his
vast fortune in trustn as fund from which annual prizes could be awarded to individuals and
organizations who had achieved the greatest benefit to humanity in a particular year. Originally,
there were six classifications for outstanding contributions designated in Nobel’s will including
chemistry, physics, physiology or medicine, literature, and international peace.
The prizes are administered by the Nobel Foundation in Stockholm. In 1969, a prize for
economics endowed by the Central Bank of Sweden was added. Candidates for the prizes must
be nominated in writing by a qualified authority in the field of competition. Recipients in
physics, chemistry, and economics are selected by Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences; in
physiology or medicine by Caroline Institute; in literature by the Swedish Academy; and in
peace by the Norwegian Nobel Committee appointed by Norway’s parliament. The prizes are
usually presented in Stockholm on December 10, with the King of Sweden officiating, an
appropriate tribute to Alfred Nobel on the anniversary of his death. Each one includes a gold
medal, a diploma, and a cash award of about one million dollars.
3. What does this passage mainly discuss?
A. Alfred Bernhard Nobel
B. The Nobel prizes
C. Great contributions to mankind
D. Swedish philanthropy
E. Alfred Bernhard Nobel’s opulence
TEXT 4
The latest round in an ongoing debate over global-warming trends claims that warming
has indeed slowed down this century. An obvious slowing in the rise of global temperatures was
recorded at the beginning of the twenty-first century. This was referred to as a "hiatus" or a
"pause". This hiatus was first observed several years ago. Climate-change skeptics have used this
as evidence that global warming has stopped permanently. But in June the previous year, a study
in science claimed that the hiatus was just an artifact which disappears when biases in
temperature data are corrected.
Now a prominent group of researchers is countering that claim. They argue in Nature
Climate Change that even after correcting these biases the slowdown was real. "There is this
mismatch between what the climate models are producing and what the observations are
showing," says lead author John Fyfe. "We can't ignore it." Fyfe uses the term "slowdown" rather
than "hiatus". He also stresses that it does not in any way weaken global-warming theory.
The study that questioned the existence of the slowdown corrected known biases in the
surface temperature record maintained by the US National Oceanic and Atmospheric
Administration (NOAA). The finding showed differences in temperature readings from ships and
buoys. This effectively increased the record about warming. The researchers also extended the
record to include 2014. This set a new record high for average temperatures.
Thomas Karl, director of National Centers for Environmental Information in Asheville,
calculated the rate of global warming between 1950 and 1999 as being 0.113°C per decade. This
was similar to the 0.116°C a decade calculated for 2000-14. This, Karl said, meant that an
assessment done by the influential Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change in 2013 showing
that warming had slowed was no longer valid.
(Adapted from www.nature.com)
4. The passage above mainly discusses about….
A. The hiatus observation was first carried out several years ago
B. The reason why global warming is slowing down in this century
C. Global warming is a verifiable issue in the space of a decade
D. The contention about global warming and whether it is indeed slowing this period
E. The view of study in science that the hiatus is an artifact which vanishes

TEXT 5
Every year about two million people visit Mount Rushmore, were the faces of four U.S
presidents were carved in granite by sculptor Gutzon Borglum and his son, the late Lincoln
Borglum. The creation of the Mount Rushmore monument Line took 14 years – from 1927 to
1941 – and nearly a million dollars. These were times when money was difficult to come by and
many people were jobless. To move more than 400,000 tons of rock, Borglum hired laid-off
workers from the closed-down mines in the Black Hills area. He taught these men to dynamite,
drill, carve, and finish the granite as they were hanging in midair in his specially devised chairs,
which had many safety features. Borglum was proud of the fact that noworkers were killed or
several injured during the years of blasting and carving. During the carving, many changes in the
original design had to be made to keep the carved heads free of large fissures that were
uncovered. However, not all the cracks could be avoided, so Borlgum concocted a mixture of
granite dust, white lead, and linseed oil to fill them. Every winter, water from melting snows gets
into the fissures and expand as it freezes, making the fissures bigger. Consequently, every
autumn maintenance work is done to refill the cracks. The repairers swing out in space over a
500-foot drop and fix the monument with the same mixture that Borglum used to preserve this
national monument for future generations.
Source: https://books.google.co.id/books
5. This passage is mainly about …
A. the visitors to the Mount Rushmore monument
B. the faces at the Mount Rushmore monument
C. the sculptor of the Mount Rushmore monument
D. the creation of the Mount Rushmore monument
TEXT 6
The Alaska pipeline starts at the frozen edge of the Arctic Ocean. It stretches southward
across the largest and northernmost state in the United States, ending at a remote ice-free seaport
village nearly 800 miles from where it begins. It is massive in size and extremely complicated to
operate. The steel pipe crosses windswept plains and endless miles of delicate tundra that tops
the frozen ground. It weaves through crooked canyons, climbs sheer mountains, plunges over
rocky crags, makes its way through thick forests, and passes over or under hundreds of rivers and
streams. The pipe is 4 feet in diameter, and up to 2 million barrels or 84 million gallons of crude
oil can be pumped through it daily.
Resting on H-shaped steel racks called "bents," long sections of the pipeline follow a
zigzag course high above the frozen earth. Other long sections drop out of sight beneath spongy
or rocky ground and return to the surface later on. The pattern of the pipeline's up-and-down
route is determined by the-often harsh demands of the arctic and subarctic climate, the tortuous
lay of the land, and the varied compositions of soil, rock, or permafrost permanently frozen
ground. A little more than half of the pipeline is elevated above the ground. The remainder is
buried anywhere from 3 to 12 feet, depending largely upon the type of terrain and the properties
of the soil.
One of the largest in the world, the pipeline cost approximately $8 billion and is by far
the biggest and most expensive construction project ever undertaken by private industry. In fact,
no single business could raise that much money, so 8 major oil companies formed a consortium
in order to share the costs. Each-company controlled oil rights to particular shares of land in the
oil fields and paid into the pipeline-construction fund according to the size of its holdings.
Today, despite enormous problems of climate, supply shortages, equipment breakdowns, labor
disagreements, treacherous terrain, a certain amount of mismanagement, and even theft, the
Alaska pipeline has been completed and is operating.
Source: https://www.ets.org/toefl_itp/content/sample_questions/
6. The passage primarily discusses the pipeline's …
A. operating
B. employees
C. costs consumers
D. construction

TEXT 7
Forces other than damaging winds are also at work inside tornadoes. Sometimes, as the
writhing, twisting funnel passes over a house, the walls and ceiling burst apart as if a bomb had
gone off inside. This explosion is caused by the low air pressure at the center of a tornado.
The pressure at the center of a tornado is usually 13 pounds per square inch. However,
inside the house the air pressure is normal, about 15 pounds per square inch. The difference of 2
pounds per square inch between the inside and outside pressure may not seem like much. But
suppose a tornado funnel passes over a small building that measures 20 by 10 by 10 feet. On
each square inch of the building, there is 2 pounds of pressure from the inside that is not
balanced by air pressure outside the building. On the ceiling, that adds up to an unbalanced
pressure of 57, 600 pounds. The pressure on the four walls adds up to 172,800 pounds.
 If windows are open in the building, some of the inside air will rush out through them.
This will balance the pressure inside and outside the building. But if the windows are shut
tightly, the enormous inside pressure may cause the building to burst.
Unfortunately, heavy rain and hail often occur in thunderstorms that later produce
tornadoes. So people frequently shut all windows to protect their property. This may cause far
worse damage later. For the same reason, tornado cellars must have an air vent. Otherwise, the
cellar door might be blown out when a tornado passes over it.
Source: http://belajarbahasainggrisonlinegratis.blogspot.co.id/2014/04/reading-26.html
7. Which of the following is the main topic of the passage?
A. How tornadoes can be prevented
B. Where tornadoes are formed
C. When tornadoes usually occur
D. Why tornadoes cause so much damage

TEXT 8
Nikola Tesla, a Serbian by parentage, began working for the phone company in Budapest.
In 1882, he headed for Paris, where he took a job with the Continental Edison Company. He was
invited to work stateside after his supervisor wrote a recommendation praising the young man as
a genius on par with Thomas Alfa Edison himself. While he hired Tesla, Edison thought the
man’s ideas were “splendid” but “utterly impractical.” Edison relied heavily on tedious
experimentation for most of his discoveries, a commitment which some historians attribute
partially to his lack of formal education. Tesla, in contrast, was an emotionally driven dreamer
with years of engineering training, which allowed him to work out theories before physically
implementing them.
At same point, Tesla insisted that he could increase the efficiency of Edison’s
prototypical dynamos, and eventually wore down Edison enough to let him try. Edison, Tesla
later claimed, even promised him $50,000 if he succeeded. Tesla worked around the clock for
several months and made a great deal of progress. When he demanded his reward, Edison
claimed the offer was a joke, saying, “When you become a full-fledged American, you will
appreciate an American joke.” Edison offered a $10/week raise, instead. Ever prideful, Tesla
quit, and spent the next few months 15 picking up odd jobs across New York City.
Edison’s least favorite of Tesla’s “impractical” ideas was the concept of using alternating
current (AC) technology to bring electricity to the people. Edison insisted that his own direct
current (DC) system was superior, in that it maintained a lower voltage from power station to
consumer, and was, therefore, safer. But AC technology, which allows the flow of energy to
periodically change direction, is more practical for transmitting massive quantities of energy, as
is required by a large city, or hub of industry, say. At the time, DC technology only allowed for a
power grid with a one-mile radius from the power source. The conflict between the two methods
and their masters came to be known as the War of Currents. In the end, AC won out. George
Westinghouse, an inventor, entrepreneur, and engineer who had himself been feuding with
Edison for years, fulfilled Tesla’s dream of building a power plant at Niagara Falls to power
New York City, and built upon its principles the same system of local power grids we use today.
(Adapted from various sources - PTT BPPK)
9. What is the main idea of the passage?
A. The superiority of AC system.
B. The invention of AC and DC system.
C. The rivalry between Tesla and Edison.
D. The biography of Nikola Tesla.

TEXT 9
Nearly a century ago, biologists found that if they separated an invertebrate animal
embryo into two parts at an early stage of its life, it would survive and develop as two normal
embryos. This led them to believe that the cells in the early embryo are undetermined in the
sense that each cell has the potential to develop in a variety of different ways. Later biologists
found that the situation was not so simple. It matters in which plane the embryo is cut. If it is cut
in a plane different from the one used by the early investigators, it will not form two whole
embryos.
A debate arose over what exactly was happening. Which embryo cells are determined,
just when do they become irreversibly committed to their fates, and what are the “morphogenetic
determinants” that tell a cell what to become? But the debate could not be resolved because no
one was able to ask the crucial questions in a form in which they could be pursued productively.
Recent discoveries in molecular biology, however, have opened up prospects for a resolution of
the debate. Now investigators think they know at least some of the molecules that act as
morphogenetic determinants in early development. They have been able to show that, in a sense,
cell determination begins even before an egg is fertilized.
Studying sea urchins, biologist Paul Gross found that an unfertilized egg contains
substances that function as morphogenetic determinants. They are located in the cytoplasm of the
egg cell; i.e., in that part of the cell’s protoplasm that lies outside of the nucleus. In the
unfertilized egg, the substances are inactive and are not distributed homogeneously. When the
egg is fertilized, the substances become active and, presumably, govern the behavior of the genes
they interact with. Since the substances are unevenly distributed in the egg, when the fertilized
egg divides, the resulting cells are different from the start and so can be qualitatively different in
their own gene activity.
(Adapted nom venous sources - PTT BPPK)
9. What is the main idea of the last paragraph?
A. Substances of morphogenic determinants.
B. The location of morphogenic determinants.
C. Study of sea urchins by Paul Gross.
D. Fertilization of eggs.

TEXT 10
Siberia (called Sibir in Russian) lies in Northern Asia. It‟s roughly divided into three
areas: The central Siberian uplands (with high plateaus that extend from the Lena and Yenisey
rivers), the west Siberian lowlands containing mount Klyuchevakaya, siberia‟s highest point).
While most Siberians now are white Russians, some descendants of the original Mongolian
settlers remain in the area. The Mongolians have long been noted for raising livestock, including
goats and reindeer.
10. The best title for the passage may be:
A. The people of Siberia
B. Siberian Agriculture
C. Russian in Siberia
D. An Introduction to Siberia
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