Toefl Test

John James Audubon, nineteenth-century artist and naturalist, is known as one of the foremost
authorities on North American birds. Bom in Les Cayes, Haiti, in 1785, Audubon was raised in
France and studied art under French artist Jacques-Louis David. After settling on his fathers
Line (5) Pennsylvania estate at the age of eighteen, he first began to study and paint birds.
In his young adulthood, Audubon undertook numerous enterprises, generally without a
tremendous amount of success; at various times during his life he was involved in a mercantile
business, a lumber and grist mill, a taxidermy business, and a school. His general mode of operating a
business was to leave it either unattended or in the hands of a partner and take off on excursions
through the wilds to paint the natural life that he saw. His business career came to end in 1819 when
(10) he was jailed for debt and forced to file for bankruptcy.
It was at that time that Audubon began seriously to pursue the dream of publishing a collection
of his paintings of birds. For the next six years he painted birds in their natural habitats while his wife
worked as a teacher to support the family. His Birds o f America, which included engravings of 435 of
his colorful and lifelike water colors, was published in parts during the period from 1826 to 1838 in
(15) England. After the success of the English editions, American editions of his work were published in
1839, and his fame and fortune were ensured.

Schizophrenia is often confused with multiple personality disorder yet is quite distinct from it.
Schizophrenia is one of the more common mental disorders, considerably more common than
multiple personality disorder. The term “schizophrenia” is composed of roots which mean “a splitting
Line(5) of the mind,” but it does not refer to a division into separate and distinct personalities, as occurs in
multiple personality disorder. Instead, schizophrenic behavior is generally characterized by illogical
thought patterns and withdrawal from reality. Schizophrenics often live in a fantasy world where they
hear voices that others cannot hear, often voices of famous people. Schizophrenics tend to withdraw
from families and friends and communicate mainly with the “voices” that they hear in their minds.
It is common for the symptoms of schizophrenia to develop during the late teen years or early
(10) twenties, but the causes of schizophrenia are not well understood. It is believed that heredity may
play a part in the onset of schizophrenia. In addition, abnormal brain chemistry also seems to have a
role; certain brain chemicals, called neurotransmitters, have been found to be at abnormal levels in
some schizophrenics.

People are often surprised to learn just how long some varieties of trees can live. If asked to
estimate the age of the oldest living trees on Earth, they often come up with guesses in the
neighborhood of two or perhaps three hundred years. The real answer is considerably larger than
Line (5) that, more than five thousand years.
The tree that wins the prize for its considerable maturity is the bristlecone pine of California.
This venerable pine predates wonders of the ancient world such as the pyramids of Egypt, the
Hanging Gardens of Babylon, and the Colossus of Rhodes. It is not nearly as tall as the giant redwood
that is also found in California, and, in fact, it is actually not very tall compared with many other
trees, often little more than five meters in height. This relatively short height may be one of the
(10) factors that aid the bristlecone pine in living to a ripe old age—high winds and inclement weather
cannot easily reach the shorter trees and cause damage. An additional factor that contributes to the
long life of the bristlecone pine is that this type of tree has a high percentage of resin, which prevents
rot from developing in the tree trunk and branches.

The organization that today is known as the Bank of America did start out in America, but
under quite a different name. Italian American A.P. Giannini established this bank on October 17,
1904, in a renovated saloon in San Francisco's Italian community of North Beach under the name
Line(5) Bank of Italy, with immigrants and first-time bank customers comprising the majority of his first
customers. During its development, Giannini’s bank survived major crises in the form of a natural
disaster and a major economic upheaval that not all other banks were able to overcome.
One major test for Giannini s bank occurred on April 18, 1906, when a massive earthquake
struck San Francisco, followed by a raging fire that destroyed much of the city. Giannini obtained two
wagons and teams of horses, filled the wagons with the bank's reserves, mostly in the form of gold,
(10) covered the reserves with crates of oranges, and escaped from the chaos of the city with his clients’
funds protected. In the aftermath of the disaster, Giannini’s bank was the first to resume operations.
Unable to install the bank in a proper office setting, Giannini opened up shop on the Washington
Street Wharf on a makeshift desk created from boards and barrels.
In the period following the 1906 fire, the Bank of Italy continued to prosper and expand. By
(I5) 1918 there were twenty-four branches of the Bank of Italy, and by 1928 Giannini had acquired
numerous other banks, including a Bank of America located in New York City. In 1930 he
consolidated all the branches of the Bank of Italy, the Bank of America in New York City, and another
Bank of America that he had formed in California into the Bank of America National Trust and
Savings Association.
(20) A second major crisis for the bank occurred during the Great Depression of the 1930s. Although
Giannini had already retired prior to the darkest days of the Depression, he became incensed when
his successor began selling off banks during the bad economic times. Giannini resumed leadership of
the bank at the age of sixty-two. Under Giannini’s leadership, the bank weathered the storm of the
Depression and subsequently moved into a phase of overseas development.