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TOEFL Directory > TOEFL writing > TOEFL Reading Class Unit 2_Passage 4_Question 34-44
TOEFL Reading Class Unit 2_Passage 4_Question 34-44
You have about 15 minutes to finish this passage.
First,use about 3-4 minutes to read the passage, try to understand the main idea of this passage.
Don't read it so slowly or try to remember all details.You need to do "fast reading",and "scan" the passage.
Second, read questions 1-11, and with questions you go back the passage again and look for correct answers.
Questions 34-44
Passage 4
The age at which a female cetacean, an order of marine mammals such as whales, becomes capable of bearing young varies greatly. It appears that female humpback whales attain sexual maturity when they are between four and five years old, while a female gray whale is older, probably between eight and twelve years. The majority of female baleen whales mate between their fourth and tenth years.
Many of the odontocetes (toothed whales), on the other hand, take longer to attain sexual maturity. A sperm female will mate between the ages of seven and twelve, female killer whales between eight and ten, false killers may wait as long as fourteen years, and bottlenose dolphin females are around twelve years of age when they give birth for the first time.
Gestation periods range from around ten to thirteen months in the baleen whales. Many odontocetes also have gestation periods of around one year, but some, such as the sperm, pilot, and killer whales, have unusually long pregnancies, lasting up to sixteen months or more.
In the wild, the nuances of cetacean pregnancy and birth are rarely seen by human observers. Perhaps because of a tendency to give birth under the cover of darkness, the actual birth is still shrouded in mystery. Researchers may watch in fascination as a female's pregnancy progresses and then one day a substantially slimmed-down mother simply reappears with a newborn calf in tow. Surprisingly, the best observations of birth in the wild are of large cetaceans such as sperm and gray whales.
Witness the arrival of a particular infant gray into world: for more than a minute, the solitary female gray whale is vertical in the water, her head down, flukes held stiffly six feet above the surface. She lowers her flukes, then raises them again to a height of three feet, then rotates. As she lowers her flukes again to a horizontal position, the calf's snout protrudes from her belly. Two other females with young calves pass within one hundred fifty feet of her but venture no closer. The calf submerges as its mother returns to her vertical position but reappears as the mother rests belly-up, just under the surface. Now halfway out, the newborn wobbles as the mother again sinks beneath the surface. Within thirty seconds the calf pops up to the surface, separate from its mother for the first time. Thirty seconds after the calf's arrival, and ten minutes after her labors are first detected, the gray whale surfaces and takes a breath.
34. Which of the following aspects of whales does the passage mainly discuss?
a) Hunting and feeding habits
b) Tracking migration patterns
c) Pregnancy and birth
d) Methods of observing whale behavior
35. The word attain in the passage is closest in meaning to
a) declare
b) reach
c) combine
d) observe
36. The phrase on the other hand in the passage is closest in meaning to
a) as a result
b) furthermore
c) therefore
d) however
37. In paragraphs 1 and 2, the author organizes the discussion of female whales by their
a) size and weight
b) age of sexual maturity
c) coloration
d) swimming ability
38. According to the passage, which of the following whales typically has the shortest gestation period?
a) Sperm
b) Baleen
c) Pilot
d) Killer
39. The word some in the passage refers to
a) odontocetes
b) gestation periods
c) pregnancies
d) months
40. Paragraph 5 is mainly a description of the
a) birth of a gray whale
b) swimming ability of a newborn gray whale
c) anatomy of female gray whales
d) natural habitat of gray whales
41. According to the passage, a gray whale holds which of the following parts of its body several feet above the surface of the water while giving birth?
b) Back
c) Head
d) Belly
e) Flukes
42. The word solitary in the passage is closest in meaning to
a) rare
b) active
c) lone
d) large
43. The word rotates in the passage is closest in meaning to
a) rests
b) surfaces
c) turns
d) watches
44. Which of the following statements about whales is supported by the passage?
a) Sperm whales are generally slimmer than gray whales.
b) Most whales become sexually mature at twelve years of age.
c) Whales live longer in captivity than in the wild.
d) In the wild, whale births are rarely observed by humans.
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