This is my new article on Free TOEFL test Sample Practice Questions for 2014. In this part you will see questions related to Listening. These questions can be practice for other English related Practice Exams too.
Directions: The Listening section measures your ability to understand conversations and lectures in English. In this sample, you will read one conversation and one lecture and answer questions after each conversation or lecture. The questions typically ask about the main idea and supporting details. Some questions ask about a speaker’s purpose or attitude. Answer the questions based on what is stated or implied by the speakers. Most questions are worth one point. If a question is worth more than one point, it will have special directions that indicate how many points you can receive.
• In an actual test, you will be able to take notes while you listen and use your notes to help you answer the questions. Your notes will not be scored.
Answer Key to Listening Section: Q 1-11
CONVERSATION TRANSCRIPT
(Narrator) Listen to a conversation between a student and her basketball coach and then answer the questions.
(Male coach) Hi, Elizabeth.
(Female student) Hey, Coach. I just thought I’d stop by to see what I missed while I was gone. (Male coach) Well, we’ve been working real hard on our plan for the next game . . . I’ve asked Susan to go over it with you before practice this afternoon, so you’ll know what we’re doing.
(Female student) Okay.
(Male coach) By the way, how did your brother’s wedding go?
(Female student) Oh, it was beautiful. And the whole family was there. I saw aunts and uncles and cousins I hadn’t seen in years.
(Male coach) So it was worth the trip.
(Female student) Oh definitely. I’m sorry I had to miss practice, though. I feel bad about that.
(Male coach) Family’s very important.
(Female student) Yep. Okay, I guess I’ll see you this afternoon at practice, then.
(Male coach) Just a minute. There are a couple of other things I need to tell you.
(Female student) Oh, okay.
(Male coach) Uh . . . First, everybody’s getting a new team jacket.
(Female student) Wow. How did that happen?
(Male coach) A woman who played here about 20, 25 years ago came through town a few weeks ago and saw a game, and said she wanted to do something for the team, so . . .
(Female student) So she’s buying us new jackets?
(Male coach) Yep.
(Female student) Wow, that’s really nice of her.
(Male coach) Yes, it is. It’s great that former players still care so much about our school
and our basketball program . . . Anyway you need to fill out an order form. I’ll give it to
you now, and you can bring it back this afternoon. I’ve got the forms from the other
players, so as soon as I get yours we can order. Maybe we’ll have the jackets by the next game.
(Female student) OK.
(Male coach) Great. And the next thing is, you know Mary’s transferring to another college next week, so we’ll need someone to take over her role as captain for the second half of the season. And the other players unanimously picked you to take over as captain when Mary leaves.
(Female student) Wow. I saw everybody this morning, and nobody said a word.
(Male coach) They wanted me to tell you. So, do you accept?
(Female student) Of course! But Susan’s a much better player than I am. I’m really surprised they didn’t pick her.
(Male coach) They think you’re the right one. You’ll have to ask them their thoughts.
(Female student) Okay . . . I guess one of the first things I’ll have to do as captain is make sure we get a thank-you card out to the lady who’s buying us the jackets.
(Male coach) Good idea. I have her address here somewhere.
(Female student) And I’ll make sure the whole team signs it.
(Male coach) Good. That’s all the news there is. I think that’s it for now. Oh, let me get you that order form.
Q 1
What are the speakers mainly discussing?
a. How the woman should prepare for the next game
b. The woman’s responsibilities as team captain
c. Things that happened while the woman was away
d. The style of the new team uniforms
Q 2
Who is buying new jackets for the team?
a. The coach
b. The captain of the team
c. A former player
d. A group of basketball fans
Q 3
There are two answers for the next question. Mark two answers.
Why is the woman surprised to learn that she has been chosen as the new team captain?
a. She is not the best player on the team.
b. Her teammates did not tell her about the decision.
c. She does not have many friends on the team.
d. She has missed a lot of practices.
Q 4
Read part of the conversation again. Then answer the question.
(Female student) I’m sorry I had to miss practice, though. I feel bad about that.
(Male coach) Family’s very important.
What does the man mean when he says: “Family’s very important.”
a. He hopes the woman’s family is doing well.
b. He would like to meet the woman’s family.
c. The woman should spend more time with her family.
d. The woman had a good reason for missing practice.
Q 5
Why does the coach say: “Good. That’s all the news there is. I think that’s it for now.”
a. He wants to know if the woman understood his point.
b. He wants the woman to act immediately.
c. He is preparing to change the topic.
d. He is ready to end the conversation.
LECTURE TRANSCRIPT
(Narrator) Listen to part of a lecture in a literature class.
(Male professor) Today I’d like to introduce you to a novel that some critics consider the finest detective novel ever written. It was also the first. We’re talking about The Moonstone by Wilkie Collins. Now, there are other detective stories that preceded The Moonstone historically—Um, notably the work of Poe . . . Edgar Allen Poe’s stories, such as “The Murders in the Rue Morgue” and . . . “The Purloined Letter.” Now these were short stories that featured a detective . . . uh, probably the first to do that. But The Moonstone, which follows them by about twenty years—it was published in 1868—this
is the first full-length detective novel ever written. Now, in The Moonstone—if you read it as . . . uh, come to it as a contemporary reader—what’s interesting is that most of the features you find in almost any detective novel are in fact already present. Uh, its hard at this juncture to read this novel and realize that no one had ever done that before, because it all seems so strikingly familiar. It’s, it’s really a wonderful novel and I recommend it, even just as a fun book to read, if you’ve never read it. Um, so in The Moonstone, as I said, Collins did much to establish the conventions of the detective genre. I’m not gonna go into the plot at length, but, you know, the basic setup is . . . there’s this diamond of great . . . of great value, a country house, the diamond mysteriously disappears in the middle of the night, uh, the local police are brought in, in an attempt to solve the crime, and they mess it up completely, and then the true hero of the book arrives. That’s Sergeant Cuff.
Now, Cuff, this extraordinarily important character . . . well, let me try to give you a sense of who Sergeant Cuff is, by first describing the regular police. And this is the dynamic that you’re going to see throughout the history of the detective novel, where you have the regular cops—who are well-meaning, but officious and bumblingly inept—and they are countered by a figure who’s eccentric, analytical, brilliant, and . . . and able to solve the crime. So, first the regular police get called in to solve the mystery—Um, in this case, detective, uh, Superintendent Seegrave. When Superintendent Seegrave comes in, he orders his minions around, they bumble, and they actually make a mess of the investigation, which you’ll see repeated—um, you’ll see this pattern repeated, particularly in the Sherlock Holmes stories of a few years later where, uh, Inspector Lestrade, this well-meaning idiot, is always countered, uh, by Sherlock Holmes, who’s a genius.
So, now Cuff arrives. Cuff is the man who’s coming to solve the mystery, and again he has a lot of the characteristics that future detectives throughout the history of this genre will have. He’s eccentric. He has a hobby that he’s obsessive about—in this . . . in his case, it’s the love of roses. He’s a fanatic about the breeding of roses; and here think of Nero Wolfe and his orchids, Sherlock Holmes and his violin, a lot of those later classic detective heroes have this kind of outside interest that they . . . they go to as a kind of antidote to the evil and misery they encounter in their daily lives. At one point, Cuff says he likes his roses because they offer solace, uh, an escape, from the world of crime he typically operates in. Now, these detective heroes . . . they have this characteristic of being smart, incredibly smart, but of not appearing to be smart. And most importantly, from a kind of existential point of view, these detectives see things that other people do not see. And that’s why the detective is such an important figure, I think, in our modern imagination. In the case of The Moonstone—I don’t want to say too much here and spoil it for you—but the clue that’s key to . . . the solving of the crime is a smeared bit of paint in a doorway. Of course, the regular police have missed this paint smear or made some sort of unwarranted assumption about it. Cuff sees this smear of paint—this paint, the place where the paint is smeared—and realizes that from this one smear of paint you can actually deduce the whole situation . . . the whole world. And that’s what the hero in a detective novel like this . . . brings to it that the other characters don’t—it’s this ability to, uh, see meaning where others see no meaning and to bring order . . . to where it seems there is no order.
Q 6
What is the lecture mainly about?
a. A comparison of two types of detective novels
b. Ways in which detective novels have changed over time
c. The Moonstone as a model for later detective novels
d. Flaws that can be found in the plot of The Moonstone
Q 7
In what way is The Moonstone different from earlier works featuring a detective?
a. In its unusual ending
b. In its unique characters
c. In its focus on a serious crime
d. In its greater length
Q 8
According to the professor, what do roses in The Moonstone represent?
a. A key clue that leads to the solving of the mystery
b. A relief and comfort to the detective
c. Romance between the main characters
d. Brilliant ideas that occur to the detective
Q 9
Why does the professor mention a smeared bit of paint in a doorway in The Moonstone?
a. To describe a mistake that Sergeant Cuff has made
b. To show how realistically the author describes the crime scene
c. To exemplify a pattern repeated in many other detective stories
d. To illustrate the superior techniques used by the police
Q 10
What can be inferred about the professor when he says this: “Uh, it’s hard at this juncture to read this novel and realize that no one had ever done that before, because it all seems so strikingly familiar.”
a. He is impressed by the novel’s originality.
b. He is concerned that students may find the novel difficult to read.
c. He is bored by the novel’s descriptions of ordinary events.
d. He is eager to write a book about a less familiar subject.
Q 11
What does the professor imply when he says this: “. . . well, let me try to give you
a sense of who Sergeant Cuff is, by first describing the regular police.”
a. Sergeant Cuff is unlike other characters in The Moonstone.
b. The author’s description of Sergeant Cuff is very realistic.
c. Sergeant Cuff learned to solve crimes by observing the regular police.
d. Differences between Sergeant Cuff and Sherlock Holmes are hard to describe.
Answer Key to Listening Section: Q 1-11
1. c
2. c
3. a, b
4. d
5. d
6. c
7. d
8 b
9. c
10. a
11. a
