Contoh Soal TOEFL Structure (no.1)

Mulai dari hari ini hingga seterusnya (entah sampai kapan, semoga saya konsisten), tiap dua hari sekali saya akan memposting 1 soal TOEFL beserta kunci jawaban dan pembahasannya. Sementara ini soal-soal tersebut saya ambil dari berbagai sumber (bila saya qualified, semoga bisa membuat soal sendiri). Bagi teman-teman yang belum memahami penjelasan yang ada, silakan kirim komentar di postingan tersebut agar kita semua bisa belajar bersama. Bila ternyata jawaban atau penjelasan saya keliru, jangan sungkan untuk mengoreksi saya.
Terimakasih sebelum dan sesudahnya.

Langsung saja kita cekidot soal pertama.

1. The Eiffel Tower_______ Paris, France.
a. landmarks
b. is landmarked in
c. is a landmark in
d. is in a landmark
Dari soal di atas, kita bisa melihat ada 2 noun, yaitu nama bangunan/tempat “The Eiffel Tower” dan nama kota “Paris” dan negara “France.” Kalimat tersebut belum lengkap karena tak ada kata kerja maupun to be. Di pilihan jawaban, kita menangkap keempatnya menggunakan “landmark” dengan berbagai format. Sementara itu, “landmark” merupakan noun, oleh karenanya kita membutuhkan to be is (karena The Eiffel Tower itu singular).
A salah karena tak ada to be.
B salah karena noun tidak bisa ditambahkan -ed.
D salah susunannya
Maka jawabannya adalah C karena preposition in harus ditempatkan setelah “landmark.” Jangan lupa, ada penambahan “a” sebelum “landmark” karena kita membutuhkan noun yang singular.

Going to London for Free!

Many people ask and wonder how to study English effectively. They seem too lazy to memorize all those strange and new vocabularies, too bored to study grammar, too hard to try speaking, and too difficult to listen to native speaking.

As to my experience; at first I thought English in the same way as many people think. However, I found it that language is a matter of custom;  a custom we have to live our daily life with it. So, learning English is not merely receiving what we get from our teachers in class. It’s about using it in our real life. The other question that may come next is “then how we practice English while we live in the world where English is not our first language?”.

Oh, come on dude! Haven’t you heard that English is an international language? You can find English everywhere around you; you don’t need to be in London to find people speaking English.

Let me show you how to make yourself as if you were in London or New York!

Counting Down

2 Mondays left for going home to leave the place that I am used to calling ‘home’.

This is the best year of my life ever. I already felt all kind of the season; sunny summer, falling autumn, frozen winter and blossoming spring. I am not cursing anymore when the earth is trembling or the wind is attacking. I am not puking anymore when the casserole is too creamy and the steak is too thick. I am not crying anymore when the list of the assignments are waiting meanwhile the deadlines are blocking.

This is my life that I am heading. But this is still my way that I am walking. I have to run to pursue the unseen blurry future while in the same time I want to spin around and around to see other sceneries that probably missing. So, what I’m supposed to do for the best now and the better future? My hand could not grab wider enough.

I am still leaning on the wall, trying to bump my head when I realize that I could not see any clear enough view through the keyhole of the door; too small for my big eyes. Should I go to surgery to fix my eyes? Or is it cheaper to change the door with the bigger keyhole?

I am thinking again about what I already achieved here; if there are some. Do I get it? Do I forget it? Do I forget that I do not get anything at all? Do I get fooled of myself by myself?

Those are all “Do I”.

How about “do you”?

Do you think I got something?

Do you know if I am now such a cow?

Do you see that I am drowning in the sea?

Do you still look at me now? and then? Now and then?

Arcata, Monday, April 26, 2010

Frame of Blame

Looking out of lattice-frame

Downpour to blame

I still could see through the drops of rain

As if it were not cloudy

as I should have been

“What are you doing in this crazy rain?”

He frowned at me, but cheerfully

Nothing wrong, whispered I (rain was still heavy)

“Just go back home!”

He asked me, but weakly

Nothing there, shook I (overcast was over)

“I could not give you what is not there,”

He told me, but dimly

Nothing matter, said I, (rain should have been fixed)

“I should go.”

He left me, but tremblingly

Nothing more, knew I (overcast was casted back!)

Blown Rose’s Crown

A brittle rose was blown
One fall one failure
Fallen nerveless into the river
Drowned without its crown
Jump, it tried to
Hard, it was so
Cry, it only could do
Die, the only option to
the wings Nightingale fluttered
the tail Lion plopped down
the branch root the Tree stretched
the more the hope was gone
World goes around
No matter it is up or down
Life must go on
But die must be won