I read a couple issues of Analog Science Fiction and Fact this month – specifically the September/October ’25 and November/December ’25 issues. They both contained a few “science fact” articles that might make for good TOEFL practice. Sadly, they don’t publish online… but I can point you toward some related reading, I guess. The September/October issue contained a fine article by Richard A. Lovett about the solar storm in 1967 that almost triggered a nuclear war. You can read a different article about that over here. The November/December issue contained an article by Kelly Lagor about the “last universal common ancestor” or the most recent single-celled population from which all life on earth can said to be descended from. You can read a similar article over here.
Meanwhile… I spent a week in London to attend (and speak at) The Pie Live Europe. I picked up a handful of test books, which I will hopefully describe in next month’s column.
Finally, while shopping in Korea I had to take a picture of this little pamphlet… as it is a perfect representation of the sort of ephemera that appears in the reading section of the new TOEFL. Just imagine a question about what you should do to access a map of the outlet store (install an application). This sort of stuff seems to be even more common that the “read an email” items that frequently appear in test prep for the new test.
