Nok’s Second Year · Day 17: Halloween and the Strange Pleasure of Fear
20 items · 15 minutes · Complete the Words · Read in Daily Life · Read an Academic Passage · a daily workout in the TOEFL iBT Reading format introduced in January 2026
How it works. This is a short daily workout in the TOEFL iBT Reading format used since January 2026. In fifteen minutes you complete damaged words in an academic text, read two everyday texts, and read a short academic passage. Every part follows one day in the second year of Nok, a Thai student at an American university, so the same words and ideas come back in different forms. A few minutes each day builds reading speed and vocabulary far better than one long session a week. Answer every item, then press Check My Score to see why each answer is right.
แบบฝึกประจำวันนี้ใช้รูปแบบข้อสอบ TOEFL iBT ส่วน Reading ฉบับมกราคม 2026 ใช้เวลาเพียง 15 นาที ได้แก่ เติมตัวอักษรที่หายไปให้เป็นคำในข้อความวิชาการ อ่านข้อความในชีวิตประจำวันสองชิ้น และอ่านบทความวิชาการสั้นหนึ่งบท ทุกส่วนเล่าเรื่องวันเดียวกันในชีวิตปีที่สองของนก นักศึกษาไทยในมหาวิทยาลัยอเมริกัน คำศัพท์และความรู้จึงวนกลับมาให้เห็นซ้ำ การฝึกวันละไม่กี่นาทีได้ผลดีกว่าการฝึกนาน ๆ สัปดาห์ละครั้ง ทำให้ครบแล้วกด Check My Score เพื่อดูคำอธิบายทุกข้อ
Part 1A · Behavioral Science 210 reading: Why we enjoy being scared
It is almost Halloween, and Nok’s friends want to visit a haunted house. In Behavioral Science 210, she reads about why people choose to be scared. Complete the words in the reading. The first half of each damaged word is given; type the missing letters.
Why do people pay money to be in haunted houses? Researchers that recreational fear lets us strong emotions in a setting. Our bodies as if the danger were real: the heart beats , and we breathe more quickly. because we know we are not truly in danger, the can feel exciting than terrifying for people.
Part 2A · A notice from the resident assistant
This notice is posted in Nok’s dorm. Read it and answer the questions.
CEDAR HALL HALLOWEEN PARTY
Friday, October 31, 8 to 11 p.m., Common Room
Costumes are encouraged, with prizes for the funniest and the scariest! Snacks and drinks will be provided. For safety, no fake weapons and no masks that cover the whole face. Quiet hours begin at 11:30 p.m. as usual.
Part 2B · Messages with Maya
Read the everyday text and answer the questions.
Maya: Haunted house at the farm on Saturday? Jamal and Elena are coming.
Nok: I don’t know… I hate being scared.
Maya: Come on, you just read a whole article on why fear can be fun!
Nok: Fine. But I’m walking behind Jamal the whole time.
Part 3A · Inside a Haunted House Laboratory
This passage is from Nok’s Behavioral Science 210 textbook. Read it and answer the questions.
Researchers at Aarhus University in Denmark have studied fear in an unusual laboratory: a commercial haunted house. In one study, published in 2020, they asked more than one hundred visitors to wear heart-rate monitors and to report how scared they felt and how much they enjoyed the experience.
The results showed a clear pattern. Visitors who were barely frightened did not have much fun, but neither did those who were extremely frightened. The greatest enjoyment came at a middle level of fear, a ‘sweet spot’ where the experience was intense but still manageable. The researchers compared this pattern to the way children enjoy being chased in a game: it is exciting precisely because it is not too scary.
Why would such behavior exist? Some scientists propose that recreational fear allows people to practice dealing with frightening situations without facing real danger. By learning how their bodies and minds respond, they may become better at handling stress in daily life.
This idea remains a hypothesis, but it helps explain why scary stories, horror films, and roller coasters are popular in so many cultures.
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