TOEFL PRPEPARATION COURSE: Talks

Part C of the Listening Comprehension section of the TOEFL test consists of three talks, each followed by a number of questions. You will hear the talks and the questions on a recording; they are not written in your test book. You must choose the best answer to each question from the four choices that are written in you test book. Like the conversations in Listening Part B, the talks are often about some aspect of school life or topics currently in the news. It is also very common for the talks to be shortened versions of lectures from courses taught in American colleges and universities.

Example

On the recording, you hear:

(narrator) Questions 1 through 4. Listen to a lecture in a history class.

(woman) Salt, which today seems so plentiful to us, in the past used to be a valuable commodity. In the ancient past in China, salt was used to make coins and in parts of Africa it was traded in place of money. In the Roman Empire, soldiers were not paid in money but were instead paid in salt. In fact, the English word “salary, “ which means the amount of money that one earns, comes from the Latin root for “salt.

Questions:

1. On the recording, you hear:

(narrator) What is the topic of the talk?

In your test book, you read:

(A) Valuable commodities.

(B) Salt.

(D) Money.

2. On the recording, you hear:

(narrator) What was salt used for in China?

In your test book, you read:

(A) To spice food.

(B) To build houses.