Times: 55 minutes
Directions: In this section you will read several passages. Each one is followed by several questions about it. For questions 1-50, you are to choose the one best answer, (A), (B), (C), or (D), to each question. Then, on your ‘answer sheet, find the number
of the question and fill in the space that corresponds to the letter of the answer you have chosen.
Answer all questions following a passage on the basis of what is stated or implied in that passage.
Read the following passage:
The railroad was not the first institution to impose regularity on society, or to
draw attention to the importance of precise timekeeping. For as long as merchants
have set out their wares at daybreak and communal festivities have been celebrated,
people have been in rough agreement with their neighbors as to the time of day. The
value of this tradition is today more apparent than ever. Were it not for public
acceptance of a single yardstick of time, social life would be unbearably chaotic:
the massive daily transfers of goods, services, and information would proceed in
fits and starts; the very fabric of modem society would begin to unravel.
Example I
What is the main idea of the passage?
(A) In modem society we must make more time for our neighbors.
(B) The traditions of society are timeless.
(C) An accepted way of measuring time is essential for the smooth functioning of society.
(D) Society judges people by the times at which they conduct certain activities.
The main idea of the passage is that societies need to agree about how time is to be measured in order to function smoothly. Therefore, you should choose (C).
Example II
In line 5, the phrase “this tradition” refers to
(A) the practice of starting the business day at dawn
(B) friendly relations between neighbors
(C) the railroad’s reliance on time schedules
(0) people’s agreement on the measurement of time
The phrase “this tradition” refers to the preceding clause, “people have been in rough agreement with their neighbors as to the time of day.” Therefore, you should choose (D).
Now begin work on the questions.
0 of 55 questions completed
Questions:
You have already completed the quiz before. Hence you can not start it again.
Quiz is loading…
You must sign in or sign up to start the quiz.
You must first complete the following:
0 of 55 questions answered correctly
Your time:
Time has elapsed
You have reached 0 of 0 point(s), (0)
Earned Point(s): 0 of 0, (0)
0 Essay(s) Pending (Possible Point(s): 0)
Question 1- 9
Around the year 1500, hunting people occupied the entire northern third of North
America. They lived well from the animals with whom they shared these lands. Hunters
of sea mammals had colonized the Arctic coasts of Canada and Greenland between
four and five thousand years before. Land-hunting people had lived throughout much of
(5) the northern interior for at least 12,000 years.
Northern North America is part of a larger circumpolar ecological domain that
continues across the narrow Bering Strait into Siberia and northern Europe. The overall
circumpolar environment in the 1500’s was not very different from the environment of
the present. This vast landmass had a continental climate and was dominated by cold
(10) arctic air throughout a long winter and spring season. Summer temperatures ranged
from near freezing to the mid-20’s Celsius, while winter temperatures were often as low
as 40 degrees below zero Celsius.
Geographers divide the overall circumpolar domain into two zones, the Arctic and
below it, the Subarctic. They refer to the landforms of these areas as tundra and taiga,
(15) respectively.
Temperatures in the northern lands were below freezing for eight or nine months of
the year. Subsurface soil in the Arctic’s tundra remained permanently frozen. Even
when summer temperatures were above freezing and the top inches of earth became
saturated with water, the soil below remained frozen into a permafrost, as hard as rock.
(20) When water flowed upon the surface of permanently frozen tundra, it made overland
travel extremely difficult. Summer travel in the boggy lands, or muskeg country, of the
Subarctic’s taiga was also slow and arduous. Tracking animals was more difficult than
it was during the winter when the swampy ground was frozen solid and covered with
snow. In both tundra and taiga, hordes of mosquitoes and biting flies bred in the
(25) standing pools of water. Clothing lost its thermal efficiency when it became damp.
Northern people looked forward to the turn of the season to bring the easier traveling
conditions associated with cold weather. In the Arctic, they could haul food and
supplies by dogsled while in the Subarctic, people could travel quickly and efficiently by
snowshoes and toboggan.
1. The word “domain” in line 6 is closest in meaning to
17. The word “recruit” in line 20 is closest in meaning
33. To say that Richard Outcault had been “lured away from” the World by Hearst (line 10) means which of the following?
50. Where in the passage does the author mention movements of ocean water other than those caused by tides?
2. Which of the following terms is used to describe the landforms of the Arctic region?
18. What happens when a mixed colony of Polyergus and Formica ants becomes too large?
34. The word “it” in line 12 refer to
38. The word “staple” in line 24 is closest in meaning to
3. For how many months of the year were temperatures below freezing in the circumpolar region?
19. According to the information in the passage, all of the following terms refer to ants belonging to the genus Formica EXCEPT the
35. According to the passage, the “Yellow Kid” was the first comic strip to do all of the following EXCEPT
Question 1- 9
Around the year 1500, hunting people occupied the entire northern third of North
America. They lived well from the animals with whom they shared these lands. Hunters
of sea mammals had colonized the Arctic coasts of Canada and Greenland between
four and five thousand years before. Land-hunting people had lived throughout much of
(5) the northern interior for at least 12,000 years.
Northern North America is part of a larger circumpolar ecological domain that
continues across the narrow Bering Strait into Siberia and northern Europe. The overall
circumpolar environment in the 1500’s was not very different from the environment of
the present. This vast landmass had a continental climate and was dominated by cold
(10) arctic air throughout a long winter and spring season. Summer temperatures ranged
from near freezing to the mid-20’s Celsius, while winter temperatures were often as low
as 40 degrees below zero Celsius.
Geographers divide the overall circumpolar domain into two zones, the Arctic and
below it, the Subarctic. They refer to the landforms of these areas as tundra and taiga,
(15) respectively.
Temperatures in the northern lands were below freezing for eight or nine months of
the year. Subsurface soil in the Arctic’s tundra remained permanently frozen. Even
when summer temperatures were above freezing and the top inches of earth became
saturated with water, the soil below remained frozen into a permafrost, as hard as rock.
(20) When water flowed upon the surface of permanently frozen tundra, it made overland
travel extremely difficult. Summer travel in the boggy lands, or muskeg country, of the
Subarctic’s taiga was also slow and arduous. Tracking animals was more difficult than
it was during the winter when the swampy ground was frozen solid and covered with
snow. In both tundra and taiga, hordes of mosquitoes and biting flies bred in the
(25) standing pools of water. Clothing lost its thermal efficiency when it became damp.
Northern people looked forward to the turn of the season to bring the easier traveling
conditions associated with cold weather. In the Arctic, they could haul food and
supplies by dogsled while
This response will be reviewed and graded after submission.
4. The word “saturated” in line 19 is closest in meaning to
Questions 20-29
The Winterthur Museum is a collection and a house. There are many museums
devoted to the decorative arts and many house museums, but rarely in the United States
is a great collection displayed in a great country house. Passing through successive
generations of a single family, Winterthur has been a private estate for more than a
(5) century. Even after the extensive renovations made to it between 1929 and 1931, the
house remained a family residence. This fact is of importance to the atmosphere and
effect of the museum. The impression of a lived-in house is apparent to the visitor; the
rooms look as if they were vacated only a short while ago whether by the original
owners of the furniture or the most recent residents of the house can be a matter of
(10) personal interpretation. Winterthur remains, then, a house in which a collection of
furniture and architectural elements has been assembled. Like an English country
house, it is an organic structure; the house, as well as the collection and manner of
displaying it to the visitor, has changed over the years. The changes have coincided
with developing concepts of the American arts, increased knowledge on the part of
(15) collectors and students, and a progression toward the achievement of a historical effect
in period-room displays. The rooms at Winterthur have followed this current, yet still
retained the character of a private house.
The concept of a period room as a display technique has developed gradually over
the years in an effort to present works of art in a context that would show them to
(20) greater effect and would give them more meaning for the viewer. Comparable to the
habitat group in a natural history museum, the period room represents the decorative
arts in a lively and interesting manner and provides an opportunity to assemble objects
related by style, date, or place of manufacture.
20. What does the passage mainly discuss?
36. The word “incorporate” in line 14 is closest in meaning to
Questions 10-19
Social parasitism involves one species relying on another to raise its young. Among
vertebrates, the best known social parasites are such birds as cuckoos and cowbirds; the
female lays an egg in a nest belonging to another species and leaves it for the host to
rear.
(5) The dulotic species of ants, however, are the supreme social parasites. Consider, for
example, the unusual behavior of ants belonging to the genus Polyergus. All species of this
ant have lost the ability to care for themselves. The workers do not forage for food.
feed their brood or queen, or even dean their own nest. To compensate for these
deficits, Polyergus has become specialized at obtaining workers from the related genus
(10) Formica to do these chores.
In a raid, several thousand Polyergus workers will travel up to 500 feet in search of a
Formica nest, penetrate it, drive off the queen and tier workers, capture the pupal
brood, and transport it back to their nest. The captured brood is then reared by the
resident Formica workers until the developing pupae emerge to add to the Formica
(15) population, which maintains the mixed-species nest The Formica workers forage for food
and give it to colony members of both species. They also remove wastes and excavate
new chambers as the population increases.
The true extent of the Polyergus ants’ dependence on the Formica becomes apparent
when the worker population grows too large for the existing nest. Formica scouts locate
(20) a new nesting site, return to the mixed-species colony, and recruit additional Formica
nest mates. During a period that may last seven days, the Formica workers carry to the
new nest all the Polyergus eggs, larvae, and pupae, every Polyergus adult, and even the
Polyergus queen.
Of the approximately 8,000 species of ants in the world, all 5 species of Polyergus
(25) and some 200 species in other genera have evolved some degree of parasitic
relationship with other ants.
This response will be reviewed and graded after submission.
5. The word “arduous” in line 22 is closest in meaning to
21. The phrase “devoted to” in line 2 is closest in meaning to
37. The word “prototype” in line 17 is closest in meaning to
Questions 20-29
The Winterthur Museum is a collection and a house. There are many museums
devoted to the decorative arts and many house museums, but rarely in the United States
is a great collection displayed in a great country house. Passing through successive
generations of a single family, Winterthur has been a private estate for more than a
(5) century. Even after the extensive renovations made to it between 1929 and 1931, the
house remained a family residence. This fact is of importance to the atmosphere and
effect of the museum. The impression of a lived-in house is apparent to the visitor; the
rooms look as if they were vacated only a short while ago whether by the original
owners of the furniture or the most recent residents of the house can be a matter of
(10) personal interpretation. Winterthur remains, then, a house in which a collection of
furniture and architectural elements has been assembled. Like an English country
house, it is an organic structure; the house, as well as the collection and manner of
displaying it to the visitor, has changed over the years. The changes have coincided
with developing concepts of the American arts, increased knowledge on the part of
(15) collectors and students, and a progression toward the achievement of a historical effect
in period-room displays. The rooms at Winterthur have followed this current, yet still
retained the character of a private house.
The concept of a period room as a display technique has developed gradually over
the years in an effort to present works of art in a context that would show them to
(20) greater effect and would give them more meaning for the viewer. Comparable to the
habitat group in a natural history museum, the period room represents the decorative
arts in a lively and interesting manner and provides an opportunity to assemble objects
related by style, date, or place of manufacture.
This response will be reviewed and graded after submission.
6. The word “standing” in line 25 is closest in meaning to
22. What happened at Winterthur between 1929 and 1931?
39. In what order does the author discuss various comic strips in the passage?
Questions 30-39
The modem comic strip started out as ammunition in a newspaper war between
giants of the American press in the late nineteenth century. The first full-color comic
strip appeared in January 1894 in the New York World, owned by Joseph Pulitzer. The
first regular weekly full-color comic supplement, similar to today’s Sunday funnies,
(5) appeared two years later, in William Randolph Hearst’s rival New York paper, the
Morning Journal.
Both were immensely popular, and publishers realized that supplementing the news
with comic relief boosted the sale of papers. The Morning Journal started another
feature in 1896, the “Yellow Kid,” the first continuous comic character in the United
(10) States, whose creator, Richard Outcault, had been lured away from the World by the
ambitious Hearst. The “Yellow Kid” was in many ways a pioneer. Its comic dialogue
was the strictly urban farce that came to characterize later strips, and it introduced the
speech balloon inside the strip, usually placed above the characters’ heads.
The first strip to incorporate all the elements of later comics was Rudolph Dirks’s
(15) “Katzenjammer Kids,” based on Wilhelm Busch’s Max and Moritz, a European satire
of the nineteenth century. The “Kids” strip, first published in 1897, served as the
prototype for future American strips. It contained not only speech balloons, but a
continuous cast of characters, and was divided into small regular panels that did away
with the larger panoramic scenes of most earlier comics.
(20) Newspaper syndication played a major role in spreading the popularity of comic
strips throughout the country. Though weekly colored comics came first, daily black
and-white strips were not far behind. They first appeared in the Chicago American in
1904. It was followed by many imitators, and by 1915 black-and-white comic strips
had become a staple of daily newspapers around the country.
This response will be reviewed and graded after submission.
7. All of the following are mentioned as having made travel in the summer difficult EXCEPT
23. What does the author mean by stating “The impression of a lived-in house is apparent to the visitor” (line 7)?
Questions 40-50
Every drop of water in the ocean, even in the deepest parts, responds to the forces
that create the tides. No other force that affects the sea is so strong. Compared with the
tides, the waves created by the wind are surface movements felt no more than a
hundred fathoms below the surface. The currents also seldom involve more than the
(5) upper several hundred fathoms despite their impressive sweep.
The tides are a response of the waters of the ocean to the pull of the Moon and the
more distant Sun. In theory, there is a gravitational attraction between the water and
even the outermost star of the universe. In reality, however, the pull of remote stars is
so slight as to be obliterated by the control of the Moon and, to a lesser extent, the Sun.
(10) Just as the Moon rises later each day by fifty minutes, on the average, so, in most
places, the time of high tide is correspondingly later each day. And as the Moon waxes
and wanes in its monthly cycle, so the height of the tide varies. The tidal movements
are strongest when the Moon is a sliver in the sky, and when it is full. These are the
highest flood tides and the lowest ebb tides of the lunar month and are called the spring
(15) tides. At these times the Sun, Moon, and Earth are nearly in line and the pull of the two
heavenly bodies is added together to bring the water high on the beaches, to send its
surf upward against the sea cliffs, and to draw a high tide into the harbors. Twice each
month, at the quarters of the Moon, when the Sun, Moon and Earth lie at the apexes of
a triangular configuration and the pull of the Sun and Moon are opposed, the moderate
(20) tidal movements called neap tides occur. Then the difference between high and low
water is less than at any other time during the month.
40. What is the main point of the first paragraph?
Questions 40-50
Every drop of water in the ocean, even in the deepest parts, responds to the forces
that create the tides. No other force that affects the sea is so strong. Compared with the
tides, the waves created by the wind are surface movements felt no more than a
hundred fathoms below the surface. The currents also seldom involve more than the
(5) upper several hundred fathoms despite their impressive sweep.
The tides are a response of the waters of the ocean to the pull of the Moon and the
more distant Sun. In theory, there is a gravitational attraction between the water and
even the outermost star of the universe. In reality, however, the pull of remote stars is
so slight as to be obliterated by the control of the Moon and, to a lesser extent, the Sun.
(10) Just as the Moon rises later each day by fifty minutes, on the average, so, in most
places, the time of high tide is correspondingly later each day. And as the Moon waxes
and wanes in its monthly cycle, so the height of the tide varies. The tidal movements
are strongest when the Moon is a sliver in the sky, and when it is full. These are the
highest flood tides and the lowest ebb tides of the lunar month and are called the spring
(15) tides. At these times the Sun, Moon, and Earth are nearly in line and the pull of the two
heavenly bodies is added together to bring the water high on the beaches, to send its
surf upward against the sea cliffs, and to draw a high tide into the harbors. Twice each
month, at the quarters of the Moon, when the Sun, Moon and Earth lie at the apexes of
a triangular configuration and the pull of the Sun and Moon are opposed, the moderate
(20) tidal movements called neap tides occur. Then the difference between high and low
water is less than at any other time during the month.
This response will be reviewed and graded after submission.
8. The subsurface soil in the Arctic’s tundra is most comparable to which of the following?
24. The word “assembled” in line 11 Is closest in meaning to
41. The word “felt” in line 3 is closest in meaning to
9. Where in the passage does the author mention a means by which people traveled in the northern lands?
25. The word “it” in line 12 refers to
42. The words “In reality” in line 8 are closest in meaning to
Questions 10-19
Social parasitism involves one species relying on another to raise its young. Among
vertebrates, the best known social parasites are such birds as cuckoos and cowbirds; the
female lays an egg in a nest belonging to another species and leaves it for the host to
rear.
(5) The dulotic species of ants, however, are the supreme social parasites. Consider, for
example, the unusual behavior of ants belonging to the genus Polyergus. All species of this
ant have lost the ability to care for themselves. The workers do not forage for food.
feed their brood or queen, or even dean their own nest. To compensate for these
deficits, Polyergus has become specialized at obtaining workers from the related genus
(10) Formica to do these chores.
In a raid, several thousand Polyergus workers will travel up to 500 feet in search of a
Formica nest, penetrate it, drive off the queen and tier workers, capture the pupal
brood, and transport it back to their nest. The captured brood is then reared by the
resident Formica workers until the developing pupae emerge to add to the Formica
(15) population, which maintains the mixed-species nest The Formica workers forage for food
and give it to colony members of both species. They also remove wastes and excavate
new chambers as the population increases.
The true extent of the Polyergus ants’ dependence on the Formica becomes apparent
when the worker population grows too large for the existing nest. Formica scouts locate
(20) a new nesting site, return to the mixed-species colony, and recruit additional Formica
nest mates. During a period that may last seven days, the Formica workers carry to the
new nest all the Polyergus eggs, larvae, and pupae, every Polyergus adult, and even the
Polyergus queen.
Of the approximately 8,000 species of ants in the world, all 5 species of Polyergus
(25) and some 200 species in other genera have evolved some degree of parasitic
relationship with other ants.
10. Which of the following statements best represents the main idea of the passage?
26. The word “developing” in line 14 is closest in meaning to
43. It can be inferred from the passage that the most important factor in determining how much gravitational effect one object in space has on the tides is
11. The word “raise” in line 1 is closest in meaning to
27. According lo the passage, objects in a period room are related by all of (he following EXCEPT
44. The word “correspondingly” in line 11 is closest in meaning to
12. The author mentions cuckoos and cowbirds in line 2 because they
28. What is die relationship between the two paragraphs in the passage?
45. What is the cause of spring tides?
13. The word “it” in line 3 refers to
29. Where in the passage does the author explain why displays at Winterthur have changed?
46. Which of the following pictures best represents the position of the Sun, Moon, and Earth during spring tides?
14. What does the author mean by stating that “The dulotic species of lifts… are die supreme social parasites” (line 5) ?
Questions 30-39
The modem comic strip started out as ammunition in a newspaper war between
giants of the American press in the late nineteenth century. The first full-color comic
strip appeared in January 1894 in the New York World, owned by Joseph Pulitzer. The
first regular weekly full-color comic supplement, similar to today’s Sunday funnies,
(5) appeared two years later, in William Randolph Hearst’s rival New York paper, the
Morning Journal.
Both were immensely popular, and publishers realized that supplementing the news
with comic relief boosted the sale of papers. The Morning Journal started another
feature in 1896, the “Yellow Kid,” the first continuous comic character in the United
(10) States, whose creator, Richard Outcault, had been lured away from the World by the
ambitious Hearst. The “Yellow Kid” was in many ways a pioneer. Its comic dialogue
was the strictly urban farce that came to characterize later strips, and it introduced the
speech balloon inside the strip, usually placed above the characters’ heads.
The first strip to incorporate all the elements of later comics was Rudolph Dirks’s
(15) “Katzenjammer Kids,” based on Wilhelm Busch’s Max and Moritz, a European satire
of the nineteenth century. The “Kids” strip, first published in 1897, served as the
prototype for future American strips. It contained not only speech balloons, but a
continuous cast of characters, and was divided into small regular panels that did away
with the larger panoramic scenes of most earlier comics.
(20) Newspaper syndication played a major role in spreading the popularity of comic
strips throughout the country. Though weekly colored comics came first, daily black
and-white strips were not far behind. They first appeared in the Chicago American in
1904. It was followed by many imitators, and by 1915 black-and-white comic strips
had become a staple of daily newspapers around the country.
30. What does the passage mainly discuss?
47. The word “configuration” in line 19 is closest in meaning to
15. Which of the following is a task that an ant of the genus Polyergus might do?
31. Why does the author mention Joseph Pulitzer and William Randolph Hearst?
49. According to the passage, all of the following statements about tides are true EXCEPT:
16. The word “excavate” in line 17 is closest in meaning to
32. The passage suggests that comic strips were popular for which of the following reasons?
48. Neap tides occur when