Contoh TOEFL Reading 6 (PBT)

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            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

Line     800 miles from where it begins. It is massive in size and extremely

(5)        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

(10)      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.

(15)      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

(20)      (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

(25)      $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

(30)      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.

1.      The passage primarily discusses the pipeline's

1. operating costs
2. employees
3. consumers
4. construction

2.      The word "it" in line 4 refers to

1. pipeline
2. ocean
3. state
4. village

3.      According to the passage, 84 million gallons of oil can travel through the pipeline each

A.     day

B.     week

C.     month

D.     year

4.      The phrase "Resting on" in line 13 is closest in meaning to

1. Consisting of
2. Supported by
3. Passing under
4. Protected with

5.      The author mentions all of the following as important in determining the pipeline's route EXCEPT the

1. climate
2. lay of the land itself
3. local vegetation
4. kind of soil and rock

6.      The word "undertaken" in line 26 is closest in meaning to

1. removed
2. selected
3. transported
4. attempted

7.      How many companies shared the costs of constructing the pipeline?

1. 3
2. 4
3. 8
4. 12

8.      The word "particular" in line 29 is closest in meaning to

1. peculiar
2. specific
3. exceptional
4. equal

9.      Which of the following determined what percentage of the construction costs each member of the consortium would pay?

1. How much oil field land each company owned
2. How long each company had owned land in the oil fields
3. How many people worked for each company
4. How many oil wells were located on the company's land

10.  Where in the passage does the author provide a term for an earth covering that always remains frozen?

1. Line 3
2. Line 13
3. Line 19
4. Line 32

For Answer Key, click here.

Source: Official Website of ETS

Muhammad Ahkam Arifin Muhammad Ahkam Arifin is a Fulbright PhD student at Washington State University, US. He earned a master`s degree in TESOL from the University of Edinburgh & Applied Linguistics from the University of Melbourne.

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