TOEFL iBTリーディングの語彙問題を実践練習

TOEFLリーディングの「語彙問題」の練習を一緒にしていきましょう

リーディングと語彙問題

TOEFL iBTリーディングの語彙問題は特定の語彙の意味を知っているのかどうかを測る非常にストレートな問です。

1つのパッセージ内にて1-2問語彙に下線が引かれていて、選択肢の中から最も意味が近いものを選ぶ形式です。

単語の意味を知っていればパッセージを読まなくても解けます。仮に意味が分からなくても戦略的に回答することが可能です。

戦略1. 文章中の他の単語に注目

仮に問が知らない単語だった場合、文章中の他の知っている単語から推測して回答することが可能です。

Q. The assessment of past rises and falls in sea level requires study of submerged land surfaces off the coast and of elevated beaches on land. Raised beaches are remnants of former coastlines at higher levels relative to the present shoreline and visible, for instance, along the California coast north of San Francisco, the height of a raised beach above the present shoreline, however, does not generally give a straightforward indication of the height of a former sea level.

The word “remnants” in the passage is closest in meaning to
A. remains
B. regions
C. pints
D. origins

例えばこの問の場合、remnantsの意味自体が分からなかったとしても横のformerから推測することが可能です。

formerの意味はほとんどの人がわかると思いますので、答えがA. remainだと導くことが可能です。

戦略2. 文脈から推測

戦略2つ目としては、パッセージの文脈から推測して解くというものです。これが最も一般的な戦略です。

Q. At night, the solar energy (stored as vast quantities of heat in city buildings and roads) is slowly released into the city air. Additional city heat is given off at night (and during the day) by vehicles and factories, as well as by industrial and domestic heating and cooling units. The release of heat energy is retarded by the tall vertical city walls that do not allow infrared radiation to escape as readily as does the relatively level surface of the surrounding countryside. The slow release of heat tends to keep nighttime city temperatures higher than those of the faster-cooling rural areas.

The word “retarded” in the passage is closest in meaning to
A. disguised
B. added to
C. made possible
D. slowed down

retardedの前後を読むと、文脈から、”not allowed”に近しいものだと推測できます。よってBとCが削除可能です。

Energyはdisguisedできるのか？と考えると不自然だと判断できます。よって答えはDのslowed downとなります。

ちなみにretartedは人に使うと大変な侮辱になるので気をつけましょう

戦略3. 品詞を確認する

下線部の品詞を確認して、選択肢で違う品詞のものを消去します。注意点としてはあくまで消去することにしか使えないことです。

回答にたどり着くためには、戦略の1と2のどちらかを使用する必要があります。

Q. Several dinosaur fossil localities preserve coprolites. Coprolites yield unequivocal evidence about the dietary habits of dinosaurs. Many parts of plants and animals are extremely resistant to the digestive systems of animals and pass completely through the body with little or no alteration. Study of coprolites has indicated that the diets of some herbivorous dinosaurs were relatively diverse, while other dinosaurs appear to have been specialists, feeding on particular types of plants. The problem with inferring diets from coprolites is the difficulty in accurately associating a particular coprolite with a specific dinosaur.

The word “unequivocal” in the passage is closest in meaning to
A. deniable
B. unambiguous
C. unclear
D. largely

unequivocalは形容詞ですので、D. largely(副詞)を消去することが可能です。

文脈により回答する際に、deniableもunclearもネガティブの意味を含んでいます。

パッセージを読むと、coprolitesから科学者たちが発見した証拠について展開されていますのでB. unambiguousが答えだと分かります。

語彙問題の練習

戦略が分かったところで、TOEFLリーディングの語彙問題を練習してみましょう。

Q1. The standardized study and research of this art is a relatively new discipline in Australia. New discoveries have gradually been added to the body of knowledge over the past forty years. The most important information has come from a focus on three major questions. First, how old is Australian rock art? Second, what is its organization style and can we discern a pattern or sequence of development between styles? Third, is it possible to interpret the subject matter of ancient rock art precisely, considering all available archaeological techniques and the understanding of current Aboriginal informants?

The word “discern” in the passage is closest in meaning to
A. indicate
B. apply
C. identify
D. repeat

文脈から回答する戦略を使用すると、「年齢、パターン、岩のアートに関して’把握する’」とよめます。

答えはC. identifyですね。

Q2. The Allende meteorite is classified as a chondrite. The name Chondrite is from the Greek word chondros, signifying “seed”. This is an allusion to their appearance as they look like rocks containing tiny seeds. In fact, these seeds are chondrules: millimeter-sized melted droplets of silicate material that were cooled into spheres of glass and crystal. A few chondrules have grains that survived the melting occurrence, so these enigmatic chondrules must have been created when compact masses of nebular dust were merged at very high temperatures—approaching 1,700 degrees Celsius—and then cooled before these surviving grains could melt. Study of the textures of chondrules verifies that they cooled rather rapidly – in fact, in minutes or hours, so the heating events that formed them must have been localized. It appears very improbable that big portions of the nebula were heated to such extreme temperatures, and huge nebula areas could not possibly have lost heat so quickly. Chondrules must have been melted in small pockets of the nebula that could lose heat rapidly. The origin of these strange glassy spheres remains an enigma.

The word “enigmatic” in the passage is closest in meaning to
A. dangerous
B. mysterious
C. interesting
D. surprising

パッセージを読むと、chondrulesとその起源についてだとわかります。筆者は彼らの形態の潜在的な起源を探っていますが、どうやって形作られたかは確かでないと述べています。

chondrulesはまだmysteryなんだとわかります。答えはBですね。