TOEFL Reading Complete the Words Practice 004How Glacier Movement Shapes Valleys

TOEFL Reading Complete the Words Practice #004 - How Glacier Movement Shapes Valleys

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Complete the text with the missing letters.

TOEFL Reading Complete the Words Practice #004 - How Glacier Movement Shapes Valleys

Glaciers are often described as rivers of ice, and much like rivers, they gradually reshape the landscapes they move through. As a glacier adv down a mountain valley, its eno weight and slow but cons movement grind away at the surr rock, carrying loose debris along with it. This process, called glacial ero, gradually widens a valley's floor and stee its walls, tran a narrow river-carved valley into a broad U-shaped one. Rock fragments emb in the base of the ice act almost like sandpaper, scratching and smoothing the bedrock beneath as the glacier creeps forward. When a glacier eventually ret due to a warming climate, it leaves behind unmi evidence of its passage, including piles of rocky debris called moraines and a valley floor polished smooth by centuries of grinding ice.

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Answer Explanations Reveals the correct words

1.advances
“Advances” means moves forward. The phrase “advances down a mountain valley” describes the glacier’s forward motion and contrasts with its later action, “retreats.” The singular subject “a glacier” requires the present-tense form ending in -s.
2.enormous
“Enormous” is an adjective modifying the noun “weight.” It signals that the glacier’s extremely great weight helps it grind away rock. Use the adjective + noun pattern in “enormous weight” to identify the needed word form.
3.constant
“Constant” is an adjective modifying “movement.” In “slow but constant movement,” the paired adjectives show that the glacier moves slowly yet continuously, allowing erosion to occur over time.
4.surrounding
“Surrounding” modifies “rock” and means the rock located around the glacier. The context describes the glacier grinding the material beside and beneath it as it moves through the valley.
5.erosion
“Erosion” is the noun naming the process in which rock and land are gradually worn away. The preceding sentence describes grinding away rock, and “This process, called glacial erosion” supplies the scientific term for that action.
6.steepens
“Steepens” means makes steeper. It is parallel to “widens” in “widens a valley’s floor and steepens its walls”: both are singular present-tense verbs describing how erosion changes two parts of the valley.
7.transforming
“Transforming” means changing something into a different form. The phrase after the comma explains the result of widening the floor and steepening the walls: a narrow river-carved valley becomes a broad U-shaped valley. The -ing form connects this result to the preceding action.
8.embedded
“Embedded” means fixed or lodged within something. The rock fragments are inside the base of the ice, so they move with the glacier and act like sandpaper against the bedrock.
9.retreats
“Retreats” means moves backward or shrinks away. It contrasts with the earlier verb “advances,” helping organize the glacier’s sequence of movement. The singular subject “a glacier” requires the -s ending.
10.unmistakable
“Unmistakable” means impossible to misunderstand or fail to recognize. It modifies “evidence,” indicating that moraines and polished valley floors are clear signs that a glacier once passed through.