TOEFL Readings 38
Another early Native American tribe in what is now the southwestern part of the
United States was the Anasazi. By A.D. 800 the Anasazi Indians were constructing
multistory pueblos – massive, stone apartment compounds. Each one was virtually a
Line stone town, which is why the Spanish would later call them pueblos, the Spanish word
(5) for towns. These pueblos represent one of the Anasazis’ supreme achievements. At
least a dozen large stone houses took shape below the bluffs of Chaco Canyon in
northwest New Mexico. They were built with masonry walls more than a meter thick
and adjoining apartments to accommodate dozens even hundreds, of families. The
largest, later named Pueblo Bonito (Pretty Town) by the Spanish, rose in five terraced
(10) stories, contained more than 800 rooms, and could have housed a population of 1,000
or more.
Besides living quarters, each pueblo included one or more kivas ― circular
underground chambers faced with stone. They functioned as sanctuaries where the
elders met to plan festival, perform ritual dances, settle pueblo affairs, and impart
(15) tribal lore to the younger generation. Some kivas were enormous. Of the 30 or so at
Pueblo Bonito, two measured 20 meters across. They contained niches for ceremonial
objects, a central fire pit, and holes in the floor for communicating with the spirits of
tribal ancestors.
Each pueblo represented an astonishing amount of well-organized labor. Using only
(20) stone and wood tools, and without benefit of wheels or draft animals, the builders
quarried ton upon ton of sandstone from the canyon walls, cut it into small blocks,
hauled the blocks to the construction site, and fitted them together with mud mortar.
Roof beams of pine or fir had to be carried from logging areas in the mountain forests
(25) many kilometers away. Then, to connect the pueblos and to give access to the
surrounding tableland, the architects laid out a system of public roads with stone
staircases for ascending cliff faces. In time, the roads reached out to more than
80 satellite villages within a 60-kilometer radius.
1. What is the main topic of the passage?
(A) The Anasazi pueblos
(B) Anasazi festivals of New Mexico
(C) The organization of the Anasazi tribe
(D) The use of Anasazi sanctuaries
2. The word “supreme” in line 5 is closest in meaning to
(A) most common
(B) most outstanding
(C) most expensive
(D) most convenient
3. The word “They” in line 7 refers to
(A) houses
(B) bluffs
(C) walls
(D) families
4. The author mentions that Pueblo Bonito had more than 800 rooms
as an example of which of the following?
(A) How overcrowded the pueblos could be
(B) How many ceremonial areas it contained
(C) How much sandstone was needed to build it
(D) How big a pueblo could be
5. The word “settle” in line 14 is closest in meaning to
(A) sink
(B) decide
(C) clarify
(D) locate
6. It can be inferred from passage that building a pueblo probably
(A) required many workers
(B) cost a lot of money
(C) involved the use of farm animals
(D) relied on sophisticated technology
7. The word “ascending” in line 26 is closest in meaning to
(A) arriving at
(B) carving
(C) connecting
(D) climbing
8. It can be inferred from the passage that in addition to pueblos the
Anasazis were skilled at building which of the following?
(A) Roads
(B) Barns
(C) Monuments
(D) Water systems
9. The pueblos are considered one of the Anasazis’ supreme achievements
for all of the following reasons EXCEPT that they were
(A) very large
(B) located in forests
(C) built with simple tools
(D) connected in a systematic way
Answers
1. A 2. B 3. A 4. D 5. B 6. A 7. D 8. A 9. B
