TOEFL Speaking Task 3 Practice #031 -… | English Rhino

TOEFL Speaking Task 3 Practice 031Science

TOEFL Speaking Task 3 Practice #031 - Science

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Reading passage

Masking The effect of environmental noise is a major concern for scientists because excessive noise in an animal's surroundings can pose a real threat to its survival. In their daily lives, animals regularly produce and perceive a wide range of sounds for many purposes, including communicating with others, locating mates, or searching for food. When the sounds present in the environment become louder than the sounds that an animal relies on for these essential activities, the phenomenon is referred to as masking. Masking occurs when one sound effectively covers or interferes with another, making it difficult for the animal to detect the intended signal. Scientists believe that masking can significantly impair an animal's ability to transmit or receive signals that are biologically important, which in turn can interfere with behaviors that are crucial for survival, such as finding food, avoiding predators, or coordinating with other members of the species.

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Listening transcript

Professor Vien:A good example of this is shown in a scientific study involving whales, orca whales, which happen to be one of the largest whale species. Now, orcas have a very sharp sense of hearing that is absolutely vital to their existence. In fact, they make special sounds and listen to the sounds' echoes to help them determine the location, shape, and size of objects in their habitat, like food. In other words, an orca whale uses an echo system to gather information about its immediate surroundings. It makes a series of clicking sounds, and the echoes from these clicking sounds help lead the whale to the location of its next meal. Now, in their research, scientists studied noises in an orca whale habitat off the west coast of Canada. The scientists focused on noise from boats using the same waterway as the whales. These researchers wanted to learn about possible changes in the whales' behavior. When the noise level from the boats increased, in the end, an increase in the level of environmental noise from the boats is believed to have blocked the transmission distance of the whales' clicking sounds. Scientists noticed that the size of the area in which the whale searched for food became smaller by up to 20%. It appears that the whales' echo systems were not able to function fully. Basically, the whales couldn't gather as much information about possible sources of food in their surroundings.

Your speaking task

Explain Masking and how the example from the lecture illustrates the concept.

Record up to 60 seconds. Nothing is uploaded until you submit it.