TOEIC : Vocabulary
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Example Questions
Example Question #51 : Reading Comprehension
John Scott and Philip Lannes walked together down a great boulevard of Paris. The young American's heart was filled with grief and anger. The Frenchman felt the same grief, but mingled with it was a fierce, burning passion, so deep and bitter that it took a much stronger word than anger to describe it.
Both had heard that morning the mutter of cannon on the horizon, and they knew the German conquerors were advancing. They were always advancing. Nothing had stopped them. The metal and masonry of the defenses at Liège had crumbled before their huge guns like china breaking under stone. The giant shells had scooped out the forts at Maubeuge, Maubeuge the untakable, as if they had been mere eggshells, and the mighty Teutonic host came on, almost without a check.
The Forest of the Swords: A Story of Paris and the Marne, by Joseph A. Altshelter (1915)
What is the meaning of the word "boulevard?"
Gallery
Library
Street
Forest
Street
The best answer is "street." Boulevard is a noun meaning street or avenue. Since the characters are in Paris, we can infer that there are many streets, and the phrase "walked together down a great_____" does not lend itself to be used with the words forest or library. We can also infer that they are outside, since they hear cannons, so the answer choice gallery is also not correct. The best choice is "street."
Example Question #51 : Reading Comprehension
Some species of sharks grow to an enormous size, often weighing from one to four thousand pounds each. The skin of the shark is rough, and is used for polishing wood, ivory, &c.; that of one species is manufactured into an article called shagreen: spectacle-cases are made of it. The white shark is the sailor's worst enemy: he has five rows of wedge-shaped teeth, which are notched like a saw: when the animal is at rest they are flat in his mouth, but when about to seize his prey they are erected by a set of muscles which join them to the jaw. His mouth is so situated under the head that he is obliged to turn himself on one side before he can grasp any thing with those enormous jaws.
Adapted from Stories of the Ocean by Volney Beckner (1852)
The word "seize," as it is used in this passage, most nearly means ________________.
grab
have
give
lose
grab
The best answer is "grab." Seize is a verb meaning to grab or take. The sentence in which the word appears (...he has five rows of wedge-shaped teeth, which are notched like a saw: when the animal is at rest they are flat in his mouth, but when about to seize his prey they are erected by a set of muscles which join them to the jaw) talks about a shark doing something with his teeth to capture prey. "Give," "lose," and "have" make less sense than "grab" as an action to do with teeth. The best choice is "grab."
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