TOEFL COMPREHENSION 2

Around the year 1500, hunting people occupied the entire northern third of North
America. They lived well from the animals with whom they shared these lands. Hunters
of sea mammals had colonized the Arctic coasts of Canada and Greenland between
Line four and five thousand years before. Land-hunting people had lived throughout much
(5) of the northern interior for at least 12,000 years.
Northern North America is part of a larger circumpolar ecological domain that
continues across the narrow Bering Strait into Siberia and northern Europe. The overall
circumpolar environment in the 1500's was not very different from the environment of
the present. This vast landmass had a continental climate and was dominated by cold
(10) arctic air throughout a long winter and spring season. Summer temperature ranged
from near freezing to the mid-20's Celsius, while winter temperature were often as
low as 40 degrees below zero Celsius.
Geographers divide the overall circumpolar domain into two zones, the Arctic and,
below it, the Subarctic. They refer to the landforms of these areas as tundra and taiga,
(15) respectively.
Temperatures in the northern lands were below freezing for eight or nine months of
the year. Subsurface soil in the Arctic's tundra remained permanently frozen. Even
when summer temperatures were above freezing and the top inches of earth became
saturated with water, the soil below remained frozen into a permafrost, as hard as rock.
(20) When water flowed upon the surface of permanently frozen tundra, it made overland
travel extremely difficult. Summer travel in the boggy lands, or muskeg country, of the
Subarctic's taiga was also slow and arduous. Tracking animals was more difficult than
it was during the winter when the swampy ground was frozen solid and covered with
snow. In both tundra and taiga, hordes of mosquitoes and biting flies bred in the
(25) standing pools of water. Clothing lost its thermal efficiency when it became damp.
Northern people looked forward to the turn of the season to bring the easier traveling
conditions associated with cold weather. In the Arctic, they could haul food and
supplies by dogsled while in the Subarctic, people could travel quickly and efficiently
by snowshoes and toboggan.



1. What does the passage mainly discuss?
(A) The hunting people of North America
(B) The circumpolar environment of the sixteenth century
(C) Animals that inhabit the Arctic coast
(D) The geography of Canada and Greenland


2. The word “domain”in line 6 is closest in meaning to
(A) temperature
(B) period
(C) region
(D) process





3. Which of the following terms is used to describe the landforms
of the Arctic region?
(A) Subarctic
(B) Taiga
(C) Tundra
(D) Muskeg

4. For how many months of the year were temperatures below freezing
in the circumpolar region?
(A) 4-5 months (B) 6 months
(C) 8-9 months (D) 12 months

5. The word “saturated”in line 19 is closest in meaning to
(A) enriched (B) dissolved
(C) removed (D) soaked

6. The word “arduous”in line 22 is closest in meaning to
(A) humid (B) difficult
(C) indirect (D) unnecessary

7. The word “standing”in line 25 is closest in meaning to
(A) not flowing (B) very deep
(C) numerous (D) contaminated


8. All of the following are mentioned as having made travel in the summer
difficult EXCEPT
(A) insects (B) wet clothing
(C) swampy lands (D) lack of supplies


9. The subsurface soil in the Arctic's tundra is most comparable to which
of the following?
(A) Cement (B) A bog
(C) A pond (D) Sand


10. Where in the passage does the author mention a means by which
people traveled in the northern lands?
(A) Lines 2-4
(B) Lines 6-7
(C) Lines 20-21
(D) Lines 27-29