According to the lecture, why did ranchers send their cattle all the way to Kansas?
Basic Understanding of Spoken English · TELPAS Grades 10–12 listening. The correct answer, and the reasoning behind it.
Reporting category 2: understand the main points and important details of spoken stories and informational passages, about everyday life and school subjects.
Listen to part of a lecture in a history class. Then answer the questions.
A Lecture on Cattle Drives
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Dr. Whitfield: Today we are looking at the great cattle drives that began in Texas right after the Civil War.
Dr. Whitfield: When the war ended in eighteen sixty-five, Texas had millions of longhorn cattle and very few buyers. Here, a steer was worth only a few dollars. But in the growing cities of the North, people wanted beef, and the same steer could sell for many times that price. The problem was getting the cattle there.
Dr. Whitfield: The answer was the railroad. Rail lines had reached Kansas, but not Texas. So ranchers hired cowboys to walk huge herds north on trails like the Chisholm Trail, to railroad towns such as Abilene, Kansas. From there, the cattle went east by train.
Dr. Whitfield: Many of those cowboys were Black or Mexican American, and much of cowboy life, from roping to the saddle itself, came from Mexican vaqueros.
Dr. Whitfield: Within about twenty years, the long drives were over. Railroads were built into Texas, so ranchers could ship cattle from close to home, and barbed wire fences closed off the open land the herds had crossed. So remember: the drives existed because of one gap, the distance between the cattle and the railroad. When that gap closed, so did the drives.
The question
Choose the best answer.
According to the lecture, why did ranchers send their cattle all the way to Kansas?
- Kansas had more grass and water for the cattle than Texas did.
- Texas did not allow ranchers to sell their cattle inside the state.
- Kansas had railroads that could carry the cattle to northern buyers.Correct answer
- Cowboys were paid much more in Kansas than they were in Texas.
Why “Kansas had railroads that could carry the cattle to northern buyers.” is correct
This is a detail question about cause. The lecturer says rail lines had reached Kansas but not Texas, and that from towns like Abilene the cattle went east by train. The student has to connect "the problem was getting the cattle there" with "the answer was the railroad."
Why the other answers are wrong
- Kansas had more grass and water for the cattle than Texas did. — The lecture does not compare grass or water; the reason given is the railroad.
- Texas did not allow ranchers to sell their cattle inside the state. — Cattle could be sold in Texas, just for a much lower price.
- Cowboys were paid much more in Kansas than they were in Texas. — The lecture talks about the price of cattle, not the pay of cowboys.
Practice more of this
More listening practice for Grades 10–12, or see the TELPAS practice test for 10th–12th grade.
This is an independent study resource. It is not affiliated with, endorsed by, or connected to the Texas Education Agency or the official TELPAS program. All questions here are original practice material written to match the published test design.