TOEFL iBT Writing Practice

27 Feb. 2015 (Fri.
iBT TOEFL Writing Practice

Exercise 2
Integrated Essay Writing
Question: Summarize the points made in the lecture, being sure to explain how they challenged the
specific theories presented in the reading passage.
Reading
Starting in the 1960s and continuing until the 1980s, sailors in Russian submarines patrolling the
North Atlantic and Arctic Ocean would occasionally hear strange sounds. These underwater noises reminded
the submarine crews of frog croaks, so they called the sounds quackers (from the Russian word for frog
sounds). The sources of the sound seemed to be moving with great speed and agility; however, the
submarines sonar (a method of detecting objects underwater) was unable to detect any solid moving
objects in the area. There are several theories about what might have caused the odd sounds.
The first theory suggests that the strange noises were actually the calls of male and female ocra
whales during a courtship ritual. Orca whales are known to inhabit the areas where the submarines were
picking up the bizarre noises. Orcas have been studied extensively, and the sounds they make when trying to
attract a male are similar to those that the submarines were detecting.
A second idea is that the sounds were caused by giant squid. Giant squids are giant marine
invertebrates that live deep in the ocean and prey on large fish. They are difficult to detect by sonar because
they have soft bodies with no skeleton. Not much is known about giant squid behavior, but their complex
brains suggest they are intelligent animals. It is possible they have the ability to emit sound, and perhaps
they approached the submarines out of curiosity.
A third theory suggests the Russian submarines were picking up stray sounds from some military
technology, like another countrys submarines that were secretly patrolling the area. Perhaps the foreign
submarines did not register on sonar because they were using a kind of technology specifically designed to
make them undetectable by sonar. The strange froglike sounds may have been emitted by the foreign
submarines unintentionally.
Independent Essay Writing

Do you agree or disagree with the following statement?
Because the world is changing so quickly, people now are less happy or less satisfied with their lives than
people were in the past.
Use specific reasons and examples to support your answer.
Transcript for the listening section

(female professor) Quackers are certainly a very strange phenomenon. Experts still debate what the source
of the sounds was. No one can be sure exactly what caused them. But these experts cite certain problems
with all of the theories that you just read about. Here are a few of the arguments that they make.
First, the idea that the sounds are caused by Orca whales seems plausible at first but is ultimately
highly unlikely. Its true that there were Orca populations in the general areas that the Russian submarines
were patrolling. But Orca whales mostly live near the surface of the water. The submarines typically remain
deep in the ocean and should not have been able to hear the whale sounds from near the surface. Also, the
Orca whales would have been detected by the Russian sonar if they were nearby.
Giant squid may be a better candidate but one critical fact speaks against the squid theory as well.
Russian submarines first detected quacker sound in the 1960s and reports of them continued for about two
decades. But the sounds disappeared entirely by the 1980s. However, as far as we know, squid have always
lived in the ocean where the submarines were patrolling and continue to live there today. If these were
squid sounds, there would be no reason to suddenly start hearing them in one decade and then suddenly
stop hearing them twenty years later.
Third, the idea that the quackers were caused by a secret submarine from another country does not
hold up. The sources of the sounds appeared to move around and change direction very quickly. Submarines
cannot move or change direction that quickly. Also, all submarines make some engine noise. But no such
noise accompanied the quackers. Even today, we dont have technology to build submarines that are that
fast and have engines that are that silent.

TOEFL iBT Writing Practice

Uploaded by

Copyright:

Available Formats

TOEFL iBT Writing Practice

Uploaded by

Document Information

Original Description:

Copyright

Available Formats

Share this document

Share or Embed Document

Sharing Options

Did you find this document useful?

Is this content inappropriate?

Copyright:

Available Formats

TOEFL iBT Writing Practice

Uploaded by

Copyright:

Available Formats

27 Feb. 2015 (Fri.

iBT TOEFL Writing Practice

Independent Essay Writing

Transcript for the listening section

You might also like