The American composer, George Gershwin, was born in 1S9S in Brooklyn, New York, the son of Russian-Jewish immigrants. He began his musical education at age 11, when his family bought a second-hand piano. The piano was not bought for him, but for his older brother. | 96 PART III TOEFL Reading Review 7. Why did the dinosaur disappear A It was undernourished. B It was a reptile. C No one knows. D Large birds killed it. 8. What must demise mean A Death B Appearance C Change D Evolution Answers 1. The correct answer is C . 2. The correct answer is C . 3. The correct answer is C . 4. The correct answer is B . 5. The correct answer is B . 6. The correct answer is D . 7. The correct answer is C . 8. The correct answer is A . Sample Reading Passage 23 Earthquakes are the most lethal of all natural disasters. What causes them Geologists explain them in terms of a theory known as plate tectonics. Continents are floating apart from each other this is referred to as the continental drift. About sixty miles below the surface of the sea there is a semimolten bed of rock over 5 which plates or slabs carry continents and sea floors at a rate of several inches a year. As the plates separate from each other a new sea floor is formed by the molten matter that was formerly beneath. Volcanic islands and large mountain ranges are created by this type of movement. The collision of plates causes geological instability such as that in California called the San Andreas Fault 10 located between the Pacific and North American plates. The plates there are constantly pushing and pulling adjacent plates thereby creating constant tremors and a potential for earthquakes in the area. Geologists would like to be able to predict earthquakes accurately. Using laser beams seismographs gravity-measuring devices and radio telescopes they are 15 presently studying the San Andreas Fault to determine the rate of strain and the amount of ground slippage. Calculations indicate that sometime in the future California will be struck by a major earthquake. In spite of the geologists theory of plate tectonics there are still gaps in man s understanding and knowledge of the causes of earthquakes. Powerful earth- Chapter 3 Developing Reading Comprehension .
