Irma

 Geology and Landscape- TOEFL 托福閱讀考古題 Questions (一) 

Paragraph 1: Most people consider the landscape to be unchanging, but Earth is a dynamic body, and its surface is continually altering-slowly on the human time scale, but relatively rapidly when compared to the great age of Earth (about 4,500 billion years). There are two principal influences that shape the terrain: constructive processes such as uplift, which create new landscape features, and destructive forces such as erosion, which gradually wear away exposed landforms.

1. According to paragraph 1, which of the following statements is true of changes in Earth’s landscape?

○ They occur more often by uplift than by erosion

○ They occur only at special times.

○ They occur less frequently now than they once did

○ They occur quickly in geological terms

2. The word relatively in the passage is closest in meaning to

○ Unusually

○ Comparatively

○ Occasionally

○ Naturally

Paragraph 2: Hills and mountains are often regarded as the epitome of permanence, successfully resisting the destructive forces of nature, but in fact they tend to be relatively short-lived in geological terms. As a general rule, the Himalayas are only about 50 million years old. Lower mountains tend to be older, and are often the eroded relics of much higher mountain chains. About 400 million years ago, when the present-day continents of North America and Europe were joined, the Caledonian mountain chain was the same size as the modern Himalayas. Today, however, the relics of the Caledonian orogeny (mountain-building, period) exist as the comparatively low mountains of Greenland, the northern Appalachians in the United States, the Scottish Highlands, and the Norwegian coastal plateau.

3. Which of the following can be inferred from paragraph 2 about the mountains of the Himalayas?

○ Their current height is not an indication of their age.

○ At present, they are much higher than the mountains of the Caledonian range.

○ They were a uniform higher about 400 million years ago.

○ They are not as high as the Caledonian mountains were million years ago.

4. The word relics in the passage IS closest in meaning to

○ Resemblances

○ Regions

○ Remains

○ Restorations

Paragraph 3: The earth’s crust is thought to be divided into huge, movable segments, called plates, which float on a soft plastic layer of rock. Some mountains were formed as a result of these crashing into each other and forcing up the rock at the plate margins. In this process, sedimentary rocks that originally formed on the seabed may be folded upwards to altitudes of more than 26,000 feet. Other mountains may be raised by earthquakes, which fracture the Earth’s crust and can displace enough rock to produce block mountains. A third type of mountain may be formed as a result of volcanic activity which occurs in regions of active fold mountain belts, such as in the Cascade Range of western North America. The Cascades are made up lavas and volcanic materials. Many of the peaks are extinct volcanoes.

5. According to paragraph3, one cause of mountain formation is the

○ effect of climatic change on sea level

○ slowing down of volcanic activity

○ force of Earth’s crustal plates hitting each other

○ replacement of sedimentary rock with volcanic rock