TOEFL Questions

---

In the question given below, three paragraphs are given, which are jumbled. Find the correct sequence of these paragraphs so that they form a meaningful passage.
A. Climate change is warming the ocean, but it’s warming land faster and that’s really bad news for air quality all over the world, says a new University of California, Riverside study. The study, published February 4 in Nature Climate Change, shows that the contrast in warming between the continents and sea, called the land-sea warming contrast, drives an increased concentration of aerosols in the atmosphere that cause air pollution. Aerosols affect the climate system, including disturbances to the water cycle, as well as human health. They also cause smog and other kinds of air pollution that can lead to health problems for people, animals, and plants.
B. To determine this, the researchers ran simulations of climate change under two scenarios. The first assumed a business-as-usual warming model, in which warming proceeds at a constant, upward rate. The second model probed a scenario in which the land warmed less than expected. In the business-as-usual scenario, enhanced land warming increased continental aridity and, subsequently, the concentration of aerosols that leads to more air pollution.
C. A robust response to an increase in greenhouse gases is that the land is going to warm faster than the ocean. This enhanced land warming is also associated with increased continental
aridity. The increase in aridity leads to decreased low cloud cover and less rain, which is the main way that aerosols are removed from the atmosphere.

In the following question, a sentence has been given in Direct/Indirect speech. Out of the four alternatives suggested, select the one which best express the same sentence in Indirect/Direct speech.

He said to Raina,"I cannot marry you now but I shall surely do so next year."

In the following question, out of the four alternatives, select the alternative which best expresses the meaning of the idiom/phrase.

A drop in the ocean

Read the following passage carefully and choose the most appropriate answer to the question out of the four alternatives.

When I think of my family's history on the land. I experience a pang of regret. Unlike much of the arid West, where the land has gone virtually unchanged for centuries, my place of origin, western Kansas, has been torn up by agriculture. The flat plains, excellent soil, and sparse but just adequate rainfall permitted farming; therefore farming prevailed, and a good 90% of the original sod prairie is gone. The consequence, in human terms, is that our relationship to our place has always felt primarily mercantile. We used the land and denied, or held at bay, its effect on us. Yet from my earliest childhood, when the most of the Kansas prairie was still intact, I 've known that the land also had a romantic quality. I've felt moved by the expanse of it , enthralled by size. I take pride in my identity as a plains daughter.

From the passage, it may be determined that the word "mercantile" has something to do with

In the following question, out of the given four alternatives, select the one which is opposite in meaning of the given word.

Dainty

In the following question, out of the four alternatives, select the alternative which is the best substitute of the words/sentence.

Public disgrace arising from shameful conduct

In the following question, out of the four alternatives, select the alternative which best expresses the meaning of the idiom/phrase.

Add insult to injury

In the following question, some part of the sentence may have errors. Find out which part of the sentence has an error and select the appropriate option. If a sentence is free from error, select 'No Error'.

It was by real sorrow (1)/ that I heard this morning (2)/ of your great loss. (3)/ No error (4)