We’re back with some TOEFL iBT Reading! Document is down below, and it’s about the History of Native American Trade! This will be very useful to test and see if you can do the difficult passages. Answers are on the last page! 18 minutes to complete the passage! If you’re on my TOEFL iBT Badge, you get access to this and dozens more!
Tag: englishlistening
{Patreon Special}TOEFL iBT | Reading | Anglo-saxons
We’re back with another super special! In today’s reading, we’ll be covering Anglo-saxons. Remember, to get the full reading, go to the link down below and get access to my Patreon. Nonetheless, here’s a nice little teaser for you.
[1] In the fifth century AD, Britain was being attacked by the Irish, Pict and Germanic people from southern Denmark and Germany. These invaders were called Saxons. The term Anglo Saxon was developed in the eighth century. It was coined to distinguish between the British (Anglo) and the Germanic people (Saxons). The Roman-Britano leaders defended the land as best they could, but the invaders eventually began to settle into Britain. Irish kingdoms settled in both the west and north of the country. Meanwhile, the Angles, Saxons and Jute tribes took over the east part of Britain.
bestmytest
1 Paragraph 1 supports which of the following statements about the word Anglo-Saxon:
- The word Anglo-Saxon derives from two words, meaning British-German.
- The word Anglo-Saxon derives from the British term Saxon for invaders.
- The word Anglo-Saxon derives from the German word Saxon for the British.
- The word Anglo-Saxon derives from the Irish term Saxon for invaders.
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{Patreon Special} TOEFL iBT | Integrated Essay | The Roman Empire
With possibly the most difficult Integrated Task to date, you guys will have your hands full with this one. The Roman Empire is surely one of the hardest ones out there, so brace yourself, take your time and I’ll be looking forward to your responses! For those of you reading it on my blog, here’s the first paragraph.
The post-Republican period of the ancient Roman civilization, known as the Roman Empire, was characterized by a government headed by emperors and large territorial holding around the Mediterranean Sea in Europe, Asia, and Africa. The Roman Empire was the largest empire of the Classical Antiquity period, and one of the largest in world history covering 6.8 million square kilometers. It was also among the most powerful economic, cultural, political and military forces in the world holding sway over 21% of the world’s entire population during that time period. The longevity and vast reach of the Empire provided a lasting influence of Latin and Greek language, culture, religion, inventions, architecture, philosophy, law, and government on future descendants. There are three reasons the Roman Empire became so powerful.
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{Patreon Special} TOEFL iBT Reading | The Navigation Acts
More uploads are scheduled for today! Prepare yourself…..and by the way, I see that that are difficulties within some of the readings so I will either (A) do a response video. Or (B), write the explanations in the comment below the document. Stay tuned in your notifications!
Here’s the first question for all of you who follow me.
[2] The first Navigation Act was passed in 1651. The Act declared that all products grown and produced in Asia, America, and Africa should be transported only in English boats. In addition, the Act included a provision that goods transported into England from Europe should also be carried by English boats only. The second Navigation Act was passed in 1660, forbidding any importation into or exportation out of the British colonies except in English vessels. It also declared that certain products, such as cotton, sugar, and tobacco, could only be transported to England or one of its plantations.
BESTMYTEST
1 Which of the following can be inferred from paragraph 2 about the first two Navigation Acts?
- The first two Navigation Acts declared that only England could use goods from the colonies, and also stated that certain goods could be transported to all countries.
- The first two Navigation Acts declared that only England’s colonies could benefit from the transport of goods from the colonies, and also stated that certain goods could only be exported to England and its plantations.
- The first two Navigation Acts declared that only English vessels could be used for the transport of goods from the colonies, and also stated that certain goods could only be exported to England and its plantations.
- The first two Navigation Acts prevented English vessels from being used for the transport of goods from the colonies, and also stated that only certain goods could be exported to England and its plantations.
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Arsenio’s Business English Podcast | Season 6 | Sales | Investigating Complaints: Reporting to Customers
This is a LONG story in terms of how to deal with complaints, whether it’s in your professional life or personal life. There’s a fine line between constructive criticism, and there is just the ungrateful. Do you often continue doing work with people who have complained before? In my experience here in Thailand, I worked with companies in the outskirts of Bangkok before who had complained about me having a great personality — true story. These companies don’t deserve an amazing trainer like me, and going forward, I established a value system that helps me in choosing companies, clients, gigs. In today’s podcast, we discuss just that.
Podcast
{Patreon Special} TOEFL iBT Reading | The Rise & Fall of the Chacoan Civilization
We’re back with a fantastic iBT Reading. Again, for $50 a month, you get a wide-range of listening, reading, integrated/independent tasks + 2 free coaching hours! Take advantage of this!
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{Patreon Special} TOEFL iBT | Integrated Essay | International Organizations
TOEFL iBT Integrate Essay! On my Patreon Badge, you will be able to do the essay and submit it, for free! It’s all part of the badge. And you would get a video response, too. Tune in!
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{Patreon Special} TOEFL iBT Listening | Discussion | Missing the Trip
Another Patreon special is here! In today’s exclusive badge, I’ve debut the TOEFL iBT Discussion “Missing the Trip,” which a student consults his teacher about missing an upcoming trip. Remember, these episodes are uploaded on a daily basis, so if you’re interested in having these, message me today!
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{Patreon Special} TOEFL iBT Reading | Railroads in 19th Century America
Welcome back, everyone! I haven’t been posting blogs lately, but I’m back and giving you sneak peeks into what I have on my Patreon! Three segments are uploaded daily: reading, listening, and an integrated task. For $50 a month, you will have access to these and so much more, so make sure you reach out to me for more details! Here’s the reading segment and questions are available on my Patreon!
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[1] Life in America – and the nation itself – looked very different at the start and close of the 19th century. In 1800, 93% of the people in the United States lived in small towns or on farms, and two-thirds of those people lived within 50 miles of the Atlantic Ocean. They had no concept of fixed time: towns set their clocks based on the rising of the sun, so when it was midnight in New York, it was 11:55 in Philadelphia. Travel between these two major cities took two days by horse and carriage, prohibitively slow for most people, who had little reason to travel in any case. Their concerns were decidedly local, not national. The country didn’t even have a national anthem until 1812. Of course, all of this changed quite quickly, with rapid industrialization, westward expansion, and political unification, processes that are difficult to imagine without one accompanying development: the expansion of railroads.
[2] The industrial revolution – and “big” commerce in general – was fuelled (at least politically) by the Embargo Act of 1807 and the War of 1812 with England. At stake was control over trade, and when the Americans decided to follow an approach of self-reliance, leaders (political and business) realized that American manufacturing would have to grow, and it did, along with trade in general within the United States. But the movement of goods along the coast and from manufacturing centers farther inland required new means of transport. Canals and highways simply couldn’t accommodate all that was being moved. And so thousands of miles of railroad track were laid throughout the East and Midwest.
[3] Moving goods by rail conferred several advantages, particularly financial. Railroads could be operated throughout the year, unlike shipping on water routes, many of which were subject to freezing in winter. Trains could also move significantly more goods at one time. What these two advantages meant was that shippers and commercial enterprises could carry smaller inventories and pay less for winter storage. They also saved on insurance costs and suffered fewer losses due to accidents and mishaps.
[4] By 1850, over 9,000 miles of track had been built, primarily in the North and Midwest, where every major city was linked by 1860. And in the heartland of American agriculture at this time, in the Corn Belt from Ohio to Iowa, fully 80% of the farms were no more than 5 miles from a railway. Of course, 1860 marked the beginning of an immensely important political struggle – the American Civil War – which would have looked much different without the railways. Both the North and the South used trains to move both men and equipment over great distances. In the end, the North’s more fully developed rail system served as an enormous advantage, and without it, things may have ended much differently.
[5] Before the war ended, the federal government passed a piece of legislation that was to launch the next wave of railway construction: the 1862 Pacific Railway Act. This act authorized the construction of a transcontinental railroad that would link east and west. The settlement of the American West would not have been possible without the railways, and the railways wouldn’t have been possible without the assistance of the federal government.
[6] Between 1855 (before the Pacific Railway Act, in fact) and 1871, the government operated a system of land grants. They effectively gave a total of 129 million acres of land to new railways, land which the companies could sell or pledge as they saw fit to finance the construction of the transcontinental lines. Another 51 million acres was supplied by the separate states, and both state and federal governments provided a variety of subsidies to encourage construction. As a result, the first transcontinental line was finished in 1869, and between 1871 and 1900, with the help of the government, 170,000 miles of new track was laid throughout the country. And the western half of the continent became populated by hardworking farmers, many of whom were deeply indebted to the banks that financed their purchase of land from the railways.
[7] Thus, the America of the year 1800 was long gone. Industrialization, urbanization, and westward migration had changed the distribution of peoples on the continent. Economically, agriculture was now rivaled by industry and commerce. And the railroad companies that developed hand in hand with society and the economy had so much power that they could even dictate how people set their clocks, as “railroad time” trumped “natural time” and “local time.” By 1900, when it was 12:00 in New York, it was also 12:00 in Philadelphia.
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TOEFL iBT | Listening | Lecture | Astrology
As requested by one of my Patreon students, I decided to make this available to the public by doing a video/podcast response to this specific lecture. I realized that this was one of the longest lecturers I had ever heard and my student had difficulty with comparing notes to the questions that were asked. Now, I love this particular segment because it was very difficult compared to other lecturers, and after hearing some of the listening excerpts on YouTube, I’m afraid that the majority of you will have difficulty if you come across a lengthy lecture on the test. Without further ado, let’s dive into this!
Notes
Astrology is…..
anthropology course
influenced by astrology
Roots from manifestations
asia, south america, modern day
what is astrology — celestial objects, stars, planets, moons, movement and position influence human events
broadest = search for meaning in sky
encompasses astronomy
without it, won’t have modern astronomy
no technological benefits of the skies
development = earliest records 25k years
prehistoric men made diagrams on cave walls
men examine, question, and understand process of natural world
bodies have no effect = not true
moon influences tides and rivers
awareness of this helped men and prepared for annual weather like floods
Predictive tool
ancient babylon
recording planetary movements 2k BC
they kept records for 21 years
2300 BC dated back
observations // not predictions
babylonian astrology was concerned with physical events = politics, earthquakes
position of stars can’t determine fate
gods associated with specific planets, displayed some erratic behavior, meant god was angry
Astronomy other cultures too
Alexnader the great = fundamental of the spread in Asia
Bablyloanian beliefs = greek culture
greek overtook international language
1st century BCE, two astrology, PAST, present, future and other soul and stars
greek culture spread to ancient rome
rome, astrology popular amongst lower orders of society
Cato, farmers danger
2nd century, juvenil, roman women hung on every word
high born astrological bug, tiberius started employing astrologers
intellectual romans said other planets are much further, they can only have a tiny influence compared to moons
ignores affect, parenting, health, medicine, have on other people’s characters and fate
Carnitus, belief in fate denied free will
Same time identical can live in tribes and cultures
Questions
1 What is the lecture mainly about?
- how ancient astrology has influenced modern astronomy
- the evolution of astrological beliefs and practices
- a comparison of Babylonian and Greco-Roman astrology
- ancient arguments against the power of astrology
2 What is implied about astrologers in ancient Rome?
- They were more respected if they had Greek origins
- They had significant influence, particularly over lower class people
- They still utilized the ancient Babylonian script
- They made significant contributions to the study of natural science
3 Which of the following practices took place in ancient Babylon? Choose 2 answers.
- The positions of celestial bodies were extensively recorded
- Kings communicated directly with the gods in the stars
- People consulted astrologers to determine their futures
- Precautions were taken when celestial omens were observed
4 What can be concluded about Cicero and Carneades?
- Both of them saw good and bad aspects to astrology
- Cicero had a negative view of astrology, while Carneades had a positive one
- Both of them disagreed with the arguments put forward by astrologists
- Cicero saw both good and bad sides to astrology, while Carneades had only a negative opinion
5 According to the professor, when did Astronomy begin to be used as predictive tool?
- When Alexander conquered asla
- Ancient Roman times
- Around 25,000 years when prehistoric man made diagrams depicting lunar cycles on cave walls
- Ancient Babylonian times
6 Which of the following is true about the development of Astrology?
- By the 1st century BCE, there was only one strand of astrology concerned with reading about the past, present, and future
- The earliest records of astronomical cycles dated back to ancient Babylonian times
- Alexander contributed greatly to the spread of Astrology
- Babylonian astrology was concerned with how the position of stars could determine a single person’s fate