TOEFL Integrated Tasks: Introducing words

Some common 'introducing' words
The reading passage	The listening passage
tells us that (noun + verb) tells us about (noun or noun phrase) (noun clause e.g. where something is located) informs us that informs us about explains reveals claims that says that states that describes discusses (noun or noun phrase) DO NOT write 'discusses that' argues that	tells us that (noun + verb) tells us about (noun or noun phrase) tells us (noun clause e.g. why something happened) informs us that informs us about explains reveals claims that says that states that describes discusses (noun or noun phrase) argues that challenges (this)

Please note the diffference between  -
The reading passage....       In the reading passage, .....

Task 1: Look at the following sentences. Which are wrong? Why?
A) The reading passage tells us about the characteristics of the Sahara today.
B) In the reading passage, tells us about the characteristics of the Sahara today.
C) In the reading passage, we are told about the characteristics of the Sahara today.
D) The listening passage describes the Sahara in the past.
E) In the listening passage, describes the Sahara in the past.
F) In the listening passage, the characteristics of the Sahara in the past are described.
G) The reading passage details the characteristics of the Sahara today.
H) In the reading passage, the characteristics of the Sahara today are detailed.
I) In the listening passage, the speaker describes the Sahara in the past.
J) The listening passage reveals that the Sahara in the past was a very different place.

Task 2: Try to write introductions for the sets of main ideas below.
1)    Main idea of reading passage: The Tokyo Metropolitan Area has 23 wards.
Main idea of listening passage: The biggest of these wards is Nerima Ward

2) Main idea of reading passage: Most people believe that lions only live in Africa and tigers only live in Asia.
Main idea of listening passage: Actually there is one kind of lion that lives in India.

3) Main idea of reading passage: The Nile, the longest river in the world.
Main idea of listening passage: The source of the Nile was not discovered until the end of the 19th century.

4) Main idea of reading passage: The destruction of the Mongol fleet invading Japan by a giant typhoon.
Main idea of listening passage: Because many of the Mongol ships were flat-bottomed they were easily destroyed by the typhoon.

5) Main idea of reading passage: ‘Ring a ring of roses’ is a popular children’s rhyme in England.
Main idea of listening passage: The rhyme comes from a 14th century epidemic of the bubonic plague.

6) Main idea of reading passage: The TOEFL summer intensive concentrates on speaking , reading, and listening.
Main idea of listening passage: The focus of the winter intensive is iBT writing.

7) Main idea of reading passage: The TOEFL test is designed to test academic English.
Main idea of listening passage: The TOEIC test is more concerned with business English.

8) Main idea of reading passage: Edinburgh, the capital city of Scotland.
Main idea of listening passage: How Edinburgh got its name.

9) Main idea of reading passage: A computer virus called a Trojan horse.
Main idea of listening passage: Why this kind of virus is called a Trojan horse.

10) Main idea of reading passage: The twelve animal signs of the Chinese zodiac
Main idea of listening passage: The twelve star signs of the western zodiac.

11) Main idea of reading passage: The sinking of the Titanic.
Main idea of listening passage: A famous movie based on the sinking.

12) Main idea of reading passage: The launch of Sputnik, the world’s first artificial satellite.
Main idea of listening passage: American reactions to the launch of Sputnik.

13) Main idea of reading passage: A definition of the word sci-fi.
Main idea of listening passage: ‘Dune’, the greatest sci-fi novel ever written.

14) Main idea of reading passage: In the 1947 British movie ‘Sound Barrier’, a British pilot is the first man to fly faster than the speed of sound.
Main idea of listening passage: The sound barrier was first broken in 1947 by an American pilot.