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TOEFL100点以上を目指す社会人の方のための集中勉強会のご案内です。

一回の受講で、100点までの道のりが明確に見えるようになりますので、安心してその後の勉強を実施することができます。

TOEFL学習記録139

TOEFL Speaking Task 6 の練習を続けます。

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6-1
The professor explains two ways domesticated animals were used as food sources in ancient times.
First, each family kept several goats. When they want to eat meat, they could kill a goat to obtain meat immediately and conveniently.
Second, they produced secondary products from milk of goats, such as cheese and yogurt. This way, they addressed the problems of food shortage.
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6-2
The professor explains two adaptations of red wood to survive for a long time.
First, red woods release a chemical toxic substance. This functions as a pesticide to kill harmful insects and protect red woods.
Second, red woods have deep root systems. Deep roots not only help them obtain nutrients and water from the ground but also provide structural support to them, so that the trees would not fall down during strong storms
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6-3
The professor explains two ways ants transport water to their nests.
First, each ant move a single droplet of water to the nest. As the number of ants of each nest is significant, this is a effective method of transporting water.
Second, ants can use a water container such as a feather to gather enough water, and transport a feather filled with water at once.
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6-4
The professor explains two benefits of wild fires.
First, wild fires provide animals with new habitats. Take woodpeckers for example. They find new homes in burned branches.
Second, wild fires burn everything on the ground and provide a new ground for growing new grasses. Often, new grasses are more nutritious and deer and other herbivores love to eat them.
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6-5
The professor explains two ways insects survive winter.
First, a species of butterfly opens up its wings to face the sun to absorb as much thermal energy as possible.
Second, a kind of fly freezes itself before the winter and unfreezes when the spring comes.
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6-6
The professor explains two ways ants secure foods they found.
First, when an ant finds a food that is too heavy for him to carry, he will go back to the nest to ask for others to help. Before leaving the food, the ant releases chemical substance on the food to deter other animals.
Second, ants place small stones and pebbles around the food so that other animals cannot access the food.
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6-7
Domesticated animals
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6-8
The professor explains two ways to protect the environment from tourists.
First, tourists should walk on trails only so that they are segregated from natural environments.
Second, the number of tourists should be limited and each group should be accompanied by a guide.
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6-9
Individual animals perform activities to bring benefits to the whole group. This is called social cooperation. The professor explains two examples.
First, some deer watch for predators while other deer feed on foods. They take turns so that each have some time for feeding.
Second, when a bee finds a food source, it goes back to the nest and performs a special dancing indicating others the direction and the distance to the food source.
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6-10
The professor explains two particular behaviors of monkeys living in the rain forests.
First, monkeys hunt for foods individually instead of a group.
Second, while hunting, monkeys emit special sounds, so that they do not encounter other monkeys and they can avoid unnecessary fighting with others.
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6-11
The professor explains mixture flying birds. Two birds fly together. One is watching for predators, while the other looks for foods. Chichi and Woodie birds are such examples.
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6-12
The professor explains two examples of human memories.
First, a person drove away from his house. In a few minutes, he forgot where he was going to.
Second, a person added water in a coffee maker. Then, a telephone call interrupted. He though he started the coffee maker, but he actually forgot to press the start button.
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6-13
The professor explains two type of sounds meerkats make.
First, when a bird attacks meerkats, they make one sound to alert others to escape in the ground.
Second, when a snake intrudes into their nest, they make another sound to intimidate the snake.
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6-14
The professor states that female animas with children are more brave than those who do not have children. He explains the result of an experiment to support this argument. Two jars containing foods one with a lid and the other without a lid were placed in front of two mice, one with children and the other without children. The one with babies entered both jars, while the mouse without children only entered the open jar. This experiment proves that animals with children are more brave than those without children.
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6-15
Same as 6-15
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6-16
Some birds fly in a flock, so that one bird watches for predators, while others look for foods. Chi-chi birds and woodpeckers fly in a flock. One of them is a guard watching for any approaching predators, while other birds search for foods.
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6-17
Companies use two types of slogans in advertisements.
First, they use company’s slogan to promote positive images of the company, so that consumers assume all product of this company are good.
Second, they use a slogan of specific product. They advertise special feathers of the product, so that consumers are attracted to the specific product.
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6-18 Pass.
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6-19
The professor explains two traits of marine animals to help them stay submerged at a certain water depth.
First, sharks have fins to give a certain lift, so that sharks can maintain the same water depth.
Second, a pike has bladders containing air. These provide buoyancy to stay at a constant water depth.

Spell: buoy, buoy, buoyancy, buoyancy, buoy,
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6-20
The professor explains two benefits of eco-tourism.
First, those participate in an eco-tour stay away from cars or busses. Instead, they walk not to pollute the environment.
Second, they try to repair damaged environment. For example, they plant trees to restore the forest.
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6-21
The professor explains how negative logs would affect negatively the performance of companies.
First, a dark logo of a tooth paste gives consumers an negative image that the use of the toothpaste will make their teeth darker.
Second, an old-fashioned logo may give an impression that the product is also outdated and behind the recent trend.
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6-22
The professor explains two effects of the railroads in America.
First, thanks to the railroads, producers were able to sell their products across the nation. Take a watch maker as an example. Before the railroads were available, the company was able to sell their watches to only limited number of cities. After the expansion of the railroads, their market place expanded nationwide.
Second, tanks to the railroads, many factories were built where natural resources were not available. For example, as coals can be transported to any places, people were able to build factories at more locations.
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6-23
The professor explains two insects that can breathe under the water.
A water scorpion, for example, has a breathing tube like a snorkel that allows it to breathe while half of the body is under water for searching foods.
A diving beetle retains air in the hind legs when diving into the water. In the water, it breathes out of this air trapped in the hind legs.

Spell: beetle, beetle, beetle
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6-24
The professor explains two ways ants bring water into their nest.
First, each ant carries a droplet of water. As the number of ants of a nest is significant, they can collect a fair amount of water. However, it is labor and time intensive activity.
Second, they place a water trapping object like a feather outside the nest during the night to absorb water. In the next morning, they bring in the feather into the nest.
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6-25
When facing a problem, people are often able to resolve the problem by looking at the issue from other perspectives. This is called lateral view. The professor uses one example of his brother who owns and manages a hotel. He received complaints that the elevator is too slow. He consulted the manufacturer, but the modification to the elevator was too expensive. One of his employees suggested installing a TV so that gusts would not feel the waiting time is too long.
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6-26
The professor explains two ways herbivores digest grasses.
The first is mechanical method. Take rabbits for example. They use front teeth to break grasses into smaller pieces to aid the digestion.
The second is chemical method. Cows for example use acid in stomach to digest grasses into absorbable nutrients.
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6-27
The professor explains two negative impacts of human interventions on the underwater species.
First, building canals connecting sea water and fresh water systems will negatively impact the ecological balance. Specifically, new species from the sea intrude into the fresh water system and may significantly reduce the fresh water species.
Second, cutting trees would affect the temperature of the water, thus negatively affect the underwater ecology. Specifically, changes in water temperatures would affect the oxygen content of the water, thus affecting the lives of underwater species.


Spell: species, species, species
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6-28
The professor explains two methods to keep a society stable.
The first method is called unification. Those who share the same jobs, interests, and hobbies get together and form groups.
The second method is called collaboration. Those who have different jobs and functions must depend on one another in order to maintain a society. A society is only stable when each member assists other members.
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6-29
The professor explains two ways for archeologists to decide where to dig to find ancient sites.
First, they look for a particular feature of the landscape. For example, in New Zealand, ancient people lived in high elevations such as hills, so archeologists look for hills as potential archeological sites.
Second, they look for a particular plant. For example, ancient people planted banana nut trees and the trees often continue to grow in the area. So, archeologists dig where the banana nut trees are growing.

Spell: New Zealand, New Zealand
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6-30
The professor explains two types of social groups, dependent and independent group.
First, in a dependent social group, everyone depends on each other. Take elephants for example. They always help one another. When one gets sick, other members help the sick by caring and providing foods.
Second, in an independent social group, each member is independent of others. Take fish for example, they do form a school, but each member is not dependent on others.
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6-31
The professor claims that female animals with babies are more brave then those without babies. He proved this by an experiment.
Two jars containing food were prepared. One jar had a lid, so that one cannot see inside, while the second jar had no lid, so one can see the food inside. Two female mice, one with babies and the other without were tested. One with babies entered both jars, but the other mouse without babies only entered the jar without a lid. This proves that mothers take more risks than non mothers.
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6-32
The professor explains two ways people fill in a memory gap.
First, people fill in an assumed or wrong information in a memory gap. For example, a person witnessed an car accident claims that the driver was talking on the phone or he did not use the direction signal, although these are not true.
Second, people fill in a misguided information in a memory gap. For example, a person memorizes a telephone number correctly initially. However, after hearing another number from his friend, he memorizes a wrong mumber.
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6-33
Negative impact on fish by humans
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6-34
Two methods to make a society stable.
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6-35
Mothers are more brave.
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6-36
The professor explains two examples of how packaging improved sales of products.
First, a new packaging material increased the sale. Take milk packaging for example. Plastic containers replaced many glass bottles. Plastic containers are easier to carry and as a result the sale of milk improved.
Second, a new packaging design increased the sale. The package size of milk used to be bigger than that of juice, so more people bought juice. Then, a milk producer designed a smaller package for milk, which boosted the sale of milk.
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6-37
Memory
She drove out for a destination. After a few minutes, she realized that she forgot something at home.
She added water to a coffee maker, interrupted by a telephone call, expected the coffee is ready, actually forgot to press the start button.
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6-38
The professor explains factors to be considered for selecting optimum sites for observatories.
First, an ideal site for an observatory should be away from light sources.
Second, the atmosphere should be dry. A high humidity obscures the lens of telescopes.
In sum, a desert away from cities is the ideal location for observatories.
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6-39
Ecotourism
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6-40
The professor explains two ways fish can ascend in the water.
First, fish inflates a bladder by injecting more oxygen into the bladder. By inflating the bladder, the overall density of fish decreases, thus increasing the buoyancy.
Second, some fish use fins to ascend in the water. Take sharks and rays for example. They use fins like airplanes glide up in the water.

Bladder 浮き袋、膀胱
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6-41
Requirements for observatories.
Being way from city lights
Dry atmosphere
Sunny everyday.
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6-42
Negative effects of advertisements on the environment
Advertisement of kitchen papers. More consumption of papers negatively affects the environment.
Billboards negatively affect the environment and the natural beauty.
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6-43
Factors to be considered to select an archeological digging site.
Land feature such as hills
Particular plant
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これで約80問やったので、Task 6の練習を終了します。

SpeakingのTask4, Task6は、非常に難しいです。
いくら練習しても本番でうまくいくとは限りません。
高度のリスニングの力、メモを上手にとる能力、要点をまとめる能力、話す能力、総合的な英語力が試されます。

Task4+ Task6 で4点もらえる人は相当な英語の使い手と思って間違いありません。

今後とも定期的に今回のようなTask4+ Task6 の集中訓練をやっていきたいと思います。



[タグ未指定]
[ 2013/01/18 11:27 ] TOEFL学習記録 | TB(-) | CM(11)

TOEFL学習記録135

Usher speaking


Test 11
The professor explains two benefits of eco-travel.
The first benefit is to reduce impact on environment. For example, participants try to walk or ride on animals instead of using cars. They also do other beneficial activities such as planting trees, protecting animal habitats, and giving financial support to local people.
The second benefit is to raise awareness of participants to environmental issues. They learn how to respect nature, culture and local people, what is good or bad for nature and take measures so that future generations can experience nature without being touched by humans.
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Test 12
The professor explains two types of information based on which customers decide which products to purchase.
The first one is intrinsic or direct information of products. Take the color of a fruit juice, for example. Consumers assume that one juice with a good color would be tasty. Often, expected quality matches experienced quality.
The second type is extrinsic information or indirect information of products such as reputation, price and packaging of products. In this case, expected quality does not necessarily match experienced quality.


Consumers would buy fruit juice in fancy bottles because they assume the one in pretty bottles to be of better quality.
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これでUsherの12問が終了。Usherの解答例のまとめ方はすばらしい。なかなかこれほどすっきりとまとめられる人はいないと思う。このレベルを目標に、練習を続けたい。
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Actual test speaking 1


引き続きTOEFL MAP ACTUAL TESTの18問に挑戦。
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Test 1
The professor explains two negative impacts of roads on ecology.
First, roads and cars can carry weeds to new locations. For example, a car can carry seeds from a forest to other new locations, and weeds grow in new locations and may disturb the local ecology.
Second, roads create barriers for animal migrations. Take pronghorns for example. They are reluctant to cross roads and my die due to starvation. Other animals such as snakes, frogs, and porcupines can cross roads without problems but may get hit by cars when crossing.

模範解答は長すぎて、60秒では無理。
Weeds outcompete flowers and crops for precious soil and water resources.
I know that every marriage - and every relationship for that matter - has its ups and downs.
When you drive to the park, forest, or anywhere else for that matter, your vehicle picks up weed seeds.
Roads present animals with unnatural obstacles.
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[タグ未指定]
[ 2013/01/14 10:44 ] TOEFL学習記録 | TB(-) | CM(2)

TOEFL学習記録132

T4-36
According to the reading, teachers should use study materials which can boost the curiosity of students. This is called interest boosting. The professor uses one example. His wife was a teacher and wanted to teach students about Marie Curie, a famous scientist in nuclear physics. Initially, student did not show interest to this subject. So she showed a movie about Marie, casted by famous movie stars. Then, student got interested in Marie and studied the subject intensively. This is a good example of interest boosting.
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T4-37
Operant conditioning (or instrumental conditioning) is a type of learning in which an individual's behavior is modified by its consequences.

According to the reading, when students misbehave, teachers can modify this behavior by either negative or positive reinforcements. This is called operant conditioning. The professor uses one example.

His sister was a teacher. One of her students, Jay, did not raise his hand before asking questions and disrupted the class. The teacher, during recess, said to Jay “Your questions are great but please raise your hand before asking questions”. Jay was very happy to hear this comment and from that point he always raised his hand before questioning. This is a good example of operant conditioning.
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T4-38
Optimal foraging theory is an idea in ecology based on the study of foraging behaviour and states that organisms forage in such a way as to maximize their net energy intake per unit time.

According to the reading, animals try to maximize the amount of prey while minimizing the energy used for foraging. This is called optimum foraging. The professor uses one example.
A sea bird preys on shellfish. First, the bird tries to catch the largest shellfish in the water. Second, the bird selects an optimum flying height required for dropping and breaking the shell. If too high, he loses energy, while if too low the shell would not break. This is a good example of optimum foraging.
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T4-39
The planning fallacy is a tendency for people and organizations to underestimate how long they will need to complete a task, even when they have experience of similar tasks over-running.

According to the reading, some people underestimate how long it will take to complete a task, even though they previously did the same mistake on the similar task. This is called planning fallacy. The professor uses his own experience.
When he was s student, he had to write a ten page report. He though this was an easy task and waited until the last day. He borrowed some books from the library, but could not make ten page report. He needed more books to complete the report, but the library was already closed. He ended up with being late for the due date and received a poor grading on the report. This is a good example of planning fallacy.
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T4-40
According to the reading, our behaviors have either negative or positive effects on out personal relationships. The professor uses his own experience.
He moved to a new neighborhood and was invited to a party. He met a person who shares the same hobbies and he talked with this person for a long time. Eventually they become close friends. In contrast, he met another person at his garden, but he had a headache on that day and did not talk with the person friendly and rejected an invitation to his house for coffee. They never developed a close relation. This is a good example of negative and positive effects.
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T4-41
According to the reading, some animals can control the number of members in a group depending on situations. This is called self-maintaining ability. The professor uses one example.
Gorillas form a large group during night to protect themselves from enemies, while during day they separate into several smaller groups to effectively search for foods. This is a good example of self-maintainability of animals.
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これでTask4の学習は終了。テンプレートは完全にマスターできたので、自信がついてきた。どんな問題が出ても対応できそうな気がする。次はTask6の攻略。70~80問は練習したい。

[タグ未指定]
[ 2013/01/11 10:27 ] TOEFL学習記録 | TB(-) | CM(0)

TOEFL学習記録130

引き続き、TOEFL Speakingの最難関Task4の練習です。
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T4-1
According to the reading, when people face problems, they either do nothing or take actions. But they often opt to do nothing because they believe taking actions will further worsen the situation. This is called problem handling mechanism. The professor uses his own experience.
One day, he was driving to the airport and got stuck in traffic. He thought about taking another route but did not do so and kept waiting in the traffic and ended up with missing the airplane.
This demonstrates problem handling mechanism.
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T4-2
According to the reading, a business may perform a research on psychological reasons why customers buy or not buy a certain product without letting customers know the real intent of the research. This is called motivation research. The professor uses one example.
A clothing company was suffering a low business volume and wanted to know the reason. Instead of directly asking customers, they gave fashion magazines to customers and asked them to cut out their favorite fashion pictures. This way the company found out the real problem.
This is a good example of motivation research.
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T4-3
Everyone wants to be a member of a certain group. This is called friend affiliation. Advertisers use this concept effectively to promote their products. The professor uses two examples.

First, in one advertisement, everyone is drinking the same brand of soda and have a good time watching a football game.
Second, in another advertisement, a boy started to drink a competitor’s soda, and suddenly all the people around him became quiet, stared at him, and left him alone.

These examples demonstrate how advertisers use the concept of friend affiliation.
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T4-4
According to the reading, some manufacturers produce spare parts and accessories only compatible with their products, so that customers are forced to use their spare parts and accessories. This is called customer lock-in. The professor uses his own experience.
The professor used to have a camera made by company A. One day, the lens of this camera was broken. He found a very good lens made by another company, but this was not compatible with his camera. In the end, he had to buy another lens made by the company A.
This is a good example of customer lock-in.
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T4-5
According to the reading, two companies may form an alliance or partnership, taking advantages of each company’s resources and strong points and establishing a better position in the market. This is called strategic alliance. The professor uses one example.
A chocolate company established an alliance with a pretzel company. They developed a new product by coating pretzels with chocolate. This new product became a big hit in the market.
This is a good example of strategic alliance.
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T4-6
According to the reading, when people are angry about other people’s activities, they do no display the negative emotion immediately and later show the bad feeling in a passive way. This is called passive aggressive behavior. The professor uses his own experience.
His sister promised to attend his birthday party but did not attend because she became too busy. He was a little upset but understood her. Later, her sister invited him to a dinner, but he intentionally got there late. This is a good example of passive aggressive behavior.
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T4-7
According to the reading, when animals are attacked by predators, they make different noises to let other members know which predators are. This is called referential alarm call. The professor uses two examples.
First, meerkats make one kind of noise when a bird is approaching. Upon hearing this alarm, all other meerkats hide under the ground.
Second, they make another kind of noise when a snake is attacking. Upon hearing this alarm, all the meerkats gather and try to intimidate the snake.
These are good examples of reference alarm call.
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T4-8
For advertisers to be able to create attractive advertisements, they need to know about customers. Who are their customers? What do they like? This is called customer profile. The professor uses one example.
A milk company conducted a survey on customers. They found out potential customers are mostly mothers and they are concerned about nutrition of milk. So, the company designed an ad focusing on the nutrition of their milk, and they sold their milk successfully.
This is a good example of customer profile.
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T4-9
According to the reading, people tend to stick to one idea or information, although evidence indicates that it is wrong. This is called belief perseverance.
The professor uses his own experience.
When he was a child, his mother always told him to wear enough clothes and keep him warm not to catch a cold. Now he knows a cold is caused by a virus, he still keeps him warm when going outside in the winter. He even tells his children to wear enough clothes.
This is a good example of belief perseverance.
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T4-10
People often use a technique of diversion to shift the attention of people from the main point of a discussion. The professor uses one example. On a TV program two persons are debating about the fact that the government spent a lot of money to build a park. One person claimed the government spent too much money on the project. The other person, however, talked about other nonfinancial benefits of the park to stay away from discussing money.
This is a good example of diversion.
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T4-11
According to the reading, emotional display rules are informal rules about when, where, and how we should display our emotions. The professor uses one example.
A 4-year old daughter had a birthday party. Her mother told her before the party, if she did not like a gift, do not display the feeling. Her grandma give her a clothe, but she did not like. Mother said this is very cute, which reminded her daughter of hiding her emotion and thank grandma. So, she thanked grandma and gave her a hug.
This is a good example of emotional display rule.
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T4-12
According to the reading passage, animals must evaluate how they use energy between foraging and reproduction, This is called energy allocation.
The professor uses one example of male seal. They do not spend much energy on foraging because there are plenty of fish available where they live. However they spend a lot of energy on selecting a good location for meeting mates, and driving away other males. This is a good example of energy allocation.
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T4-13
According to the reading, information can be better remembered if it is generated from one’s own minds rather than just reading or hearing it. This is called generation effect. The professor uses two experiments to explain this.

In the first experiment, people watched an ad repeating the name of a soda several times. Later they were asked if they remembered the name. They did not.
In the second experiment, people watched the same ad but with additional question at the end, ”What is the name of this soda?” They remembered the name much better.
This is a good example of generation effect.
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T4-14
According to the reading, some animals when facing a problem can find a solution after thinking. This is called insight learning. The professor uses an example.
A chimpanzee was locked in a tall cage with a banana hanging from the ceiling. Initially, the chimp could not reach the banana and got disappointed. After thinking for a while, the chimp realized there were some boxes in the cage. He piled up those boxes and caught the banana successfully.
This is a good example of insight learning.
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T4-15
Some animals can hear high or low-pitch sounds that cannot be caught by human ears. The professor uses two examples.
First, baby birds, when sensing a predator approaching, raise high-pitch sounds that cannot be detected by the predator, but can be heard by parents.
Second, some insects emit high-pitch sounds to let other members know the location of food sources.
These are good examples of high or low-pitch sounds emitted by some animals.
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T4-16
According to the reading, some people tend to overly focus on negative sides of things. This is called magnification and may have significant impact on their decision making in the future. The professor uses one example.
His son wanted to become an actor. He performed in a drama and made a small mistake in acting, which never affected the overall performance of the drama. After the play, the professor praised him for his excellent performance, but the son did not like his performance and later decided to give up on his dream of becoming an actor.
This is a good example of magnification.
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T4-17
According to the reading, when a student is misbehaving, it is not a good idea to tell him or her to stop the wrongdoing. Instead, the teacher should praise other students for their good behaviors, so that this student will learn what is bad and good. This is called peer reinforcement. The professor uses one example.
Sarah, a girl student, did not clean toy blocks after use. The teacher told her repeatedly to clean the blocks, but she did not listen. Later, the teacher praised Tom for his good cleaning of his blocks. Then, Sarah learned what was wrong and started to clean her blocks. This is a good example of peer reinforcement.
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T4-18
According to the reading, people tend to form an impression on what they see based on their personal experiences in the past. This is called priming effect. The professor uses one example.

A woman was riding on a bus and she was thinking about her school life. A boy came on board, sat down, and started to read a book. The woman thought he was a school student. Another woman in the same bus was reading a poet book and she though this boy was a writer. This is a good example of priming effect.
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T4-19
According to the reading, when a person is promoted, he may not be able to handle new assignments or may not be able to lead the team. This is called promotion risk. The professor uses one example.
A designer was promoted for his excellent performance, but he could not lead his team. The company decided not to demote him because doing so would make him lose his confidence. This is a good example of promotion risk.
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T4-20
According to the reading, restoration ecology means that we try to restore things damaged or polluted. However, this initiative sometimes fails by neglecting some important factors. The professor uses one example.
In America, many weeds were lost by creating much farm land and people tried to restore weeds by planting seeds of weeds. However, this was not successful because they did not use fire as an important factor. Fire creates natural fertilizer to help the growth of weeds. This is a good example of a failure of restoration ecology.
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これで、年末年始、Task4を50問消化しました。
少し慣れてきた感じがします。
少なくとも、このテンプレートでいけそうな感触が出てきました。
あと20問位やって、合計70問やったら、次の難関のTask6を同程度の問題数こなす予定です。
これで、同様な問題が本番で出たら確実に4点取れるようにしたいです。
是非、Speakingで30点取りたい。30点とれれば、120点の希望も見えてくる。

[タグ未指定]
[ 2013/01/09 12:32 ] TOEFL学習記録 | TB(-) | CM(0)

TOEFL学習記録127

Actual test speaking 1

引き続きSpeakingの最難関であるTask 4の練習。
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Test 1

According to the reading, in mental accounting, people set up different money accounts in their minds and define a budgetary limit on each account. If the limit is exceeded, they will not spend more, even if they have enough money. The professor uses two examples to explain this.

First, his wife bought a bag of donuts for 5 dollars and left the bag on a bus, but did not buy it again because 10 dollars exceed her budget for donuts.

Second, a family was planning to buy a house. One day a car was broken but the family decided not to repair the car, because saving money to buy a house was more important than fixing the car.

In summary, these examples demonstrate mental accounting.

Thanks for listening. Have a great day. 54 ceconds
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Test 2

According to the reading, assimilation is a process immigrants go through when they move to a new country. Typically, assimilation involves adjusting themselves to the new language and customs. The professor uses two examples to explain this process.

First, her cousin married a Brazilian woman. She came to America and successfully assimilated to the new place by learning new customs and language. Now most people think she is a native.

Second, some immigrants successfully learn new language, customs, and behaviors in America by watching TV programs such as sit-coms (situation comedy), soap operas, and Sesame Street.

In summary, these examples demonstrate assimilation.

Thanks for listening and have a great day. 50 sec.
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Test 3

When people recollect an event in the past, they tend to remember the highlights or the final event but forget about other minor details. This is called the peak-end rule. The professor uses two examples to explain this.

First, his family went to a vacation. It was rainy in the first half of the vacation, but it was sunny in the second half. All family members recalled later that the entire vacation was fun.
Second, he and his friend went to see a football game. The first three quarters were not exciting, but the fourth quarter was very exciting. His friend later stated that the entire game was exciting.

In summary, these examples demonstrate the peak end rule.

Thanks for listening and have a great day. 48 sec.
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[タグ未指定]
[ 2013/01/06 10:55 ] TOEFL学習記録 | TB(-) | CM(0)

TOEFL学習記録126

Usher speaking

Test 9

According to the reading, prenatal learning is the ability of embryos to learn by listening during the pregnant period. The professor uses an example of murres to explain this.

Murres are sea-dwelling birds and make huge colonies. When mother birds come back to their nests, it is very difficult to locate their babies among a large number of other birds. To solve this problem, mother birds speak to eggs so that their voices are imprinted on the brains of chicks before hatching. After hatching, babies can respond to the chirping of mothers and mothers can easily locate their babies in the colony.

This is a good example of prenatal learning.

Thanks for listening and you have a great day. (52 seconds)
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Test 10
According to the reading, choice-supportive bias is our behavior to focus on positive aspects of a decision already made and forget negative feathers of those options that were not selected. This is done to justify the decision and not to regret the decision. The professor uses an example of her friend to explain this.

Her friend wanted to buy a house and had difficult time deciding because of pros and cons. The house was close to her job, but it was too small. At the end she bought it.

A few years later, her friend talked about her house and emphasized how convenient the house was because of proximity to the job, but never mentioned the small size of the house.

This is a good example of choice supportive bias.

Thanks for listening. Have a great day.
(53 seconds)
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Test 11
According to the reading, specialist species are those animals that live in limited areas and eat only limited foods. The professor explains an example of Koalas.

Koalas primarily eat eucalyptus leaves that can be toxic to other animals. So, Koalas have no competition over food and they live in areas without being threatened by other animals.

However, when eucalyptus trees are cut down by humans, koalas lose their habitats, and they are recognized as a threatened species.

In summary, this example demonstrates special species.

Thanks for listening and have a great day. Bye bye now. (50 seconds)

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Test 12

According to the reading, an employer may hire a test customer, a third party person hired by the employer, to evaluate the performance of employees without prejudice. The professor uses an example of a restaurant manager to explain this.

First, the manager tried to evaluate his waiters and waitresses by himself, but this was of no use. The staff, knowing they were being monitored by the manager, they sort of acted to be good performers.

So, the manager hired an outside person to disguise as a customer to evaluate his employees. As the staff acted normally, the test customer was able to evaluate the employees correctly and fairly and reported the result to the manager.

So, this example demonstrates test customer.
Thanks.
(55 seconds)

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これでこの本のTask4の12回分が終了。

時間制約があるので、必ずしも、First, the professor describes that, Second, the professor describes thatを入れる必要はない。
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Usher学院の学生さんの解答例が聞けます。

http://www.usher.co.kr/helper/ess_list.php?&Code=spk&type=rls&point=&cclass=&stx=&sfl=user&page=2

韓国の学生さんみんなうまいですね。

[タグ未指定]
[ 2013/01/05 11:54 ] TOEFL学習記録 | TB(-) | CM(2)

TOEFL学習記録124

Usher speaking

Speakingの難問であるTask 4の練習をしてみました。
ーーーーーーーーーーーーーーーーーーーーーーーーーーーーーーーーー
Test 1
According to the reading, plants in rainforests make adaptations to limited sun light and excessive amount of water. The professor discusses two examples of adaptations of urn plants.

First, he describes that urn plants have ring-shaped leaves with holes in the center. This allows plants to store water for a long time. Also, water directly goes to the root to protect branches and leaves.

Second, he describes that urn plants have dark-color leaves in spiral form to gather sun light as much as possible for photosynthesis.

These examples demonstrate adaptation of urn plants in rainforests. (45 seconds)

Test 2
According to the reading, exaptation is a feature of an animal that provides unintended functions. The professor discusses an example of herons.

First, he describes herons have wings to fly as the original function.

Second, he describes that herons use long wings to block the sun light to be able to see fish in water and catch them easily.

The use of wings in this unintended purpose of catching fish is a good example of exaptation.

Thanks for listening and your patience. Hope you have a great day. (42 seconds)

Test 3
According to the reading, optimal foraging is a way an animal maximizes a food source while minimizing consumed energy. The professor describes an example of Northwestern crows dropping welks.

First, he describes that a crow lifts a welk into air and drop it to break the shell and eats the meat.

Second, he describes that the bird calculates an optimum height just enough to break the shell with a minimum energy consumption. If the bird flies too high, it wastes too much energy, while if the bird flies too low, the shell will not break.

This example demonstrates how a northwestern crow utilizes a minimum foraging technique.

Thanks for listening and your patience. Hope you have a great day. (50 seconds)

Test 4
According to the reading, mental accounting is how people encode, categorize and evaluate economic outcomes. The professor describes her own experience to explain this.

She had two jobs, an office job on weekdays and a waitress job on weekends. She saved the income from the office job in a saving account for buying a house, while she spent money from the waitress job without any constraints.

She managed two income sources separately. However, if she had saved the salary from the waitress job, she could have bought a house earlier.

This example demonstrates mental accounting.

Thanks for listening and your patience. Hope you have a great day. (45 seconds)

[タグ未指定]
[ 2013/01/03 13:14 ] TOEFL学習記録 | TB(-) | CM(0)
プロフィール

Andy

Author:Andy
TOEIC 990点
英検1級合格二次試験100点(優秀賞)
TOEFL iBT 119点

名前:Andy
学歴:University of Missouri at Rolla 工学部原子力工学科卒業
職業:技術系の通訳を30年以上やっています。

欧米人と仕事をすることが多く、Andyというニックネームを使っています。
日本人です。アメリカ人、ハーフではありません。
コロナ対策で、ネットで勉強会を開催しています。

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