Reading Exercise 44.2

Gifford Pinchot was the first professionally trained forester in the United States. After he graduated from Yale in 1889, he studied forestry in Europe. In the 1890’s he managed the forest on the Biltmore estate in North Carolina (now Pisgah National Forest) and became the first to practice scientific forestry. Perhaps his most important contribution to conservation was persuading President Theodore Roosevelt to set aside millions of acres in the West as forest reserves. These lands now make up much of the national parks and national forests of the United States. Pinchot became the Chief Forester of the U.S. Forest Service in 1905. Although he held that post for only five years, he established guidelines that set forest policy for decades to come.

Off-Broadway theater developed in New York City in about 1950 as a result of dissatisfaction with conditions on Broadway. Its founders believed that Broadway was overly concerned with producing safe, commercially successful hit plays rather than drama with artistic quality. Off-Broadway producers tried to assist playwrights, directors, and performers who could not find work on Broadway. Off-Broadway theaters were poorly equipped, had limited seating, and provided few conveniences for audiences. But the originality of the scripts, the creativity of the performers, and the low cost of tickets made up for these disadvantages, and off-Broadway theater prospered. However, by the 1960’s, costs began to rise and by the 1970’s, off-Broadway theater was encountering many of the difficulties of Broadway and had lost much of its vitality. With its decline, a experimental movement called off-off-Broadway theater developed.

2. What is the main idea of this passage?

3. The paragraph that follows this passage most likely deals with

At the time of the ftrst European contact, there were from 500 to 700 languages spoken by North American Indians. These were divided into some 60 language families, with no demonstrable genetic relationship among them. Some of these families spread across several of the seven cultural areas. The Algonquin family, for instance, contained dozens of languages and occupied a vast territory. Speakers ofAlgonquin languages included the Algonquins of the Eastern Woodland, the Blackfoots of the Plains, and the Wiyots and Yuroks of California. Other language families, like the Zuni family of the Southwest, occupied only a few square miles of area and contained only a single tribal language.

4. What is the main idea of this passage?

Other major changes in journalism occurred around this time. In 1846, Richard Hoe invented the steam cylinder rotary press, making it possible to print newspapers faster and cheaper. The development of the telegraph made possible much speedier collection and distribution of news. Also in 1846, the frrst wire service was organized. A new type of newspaper appeared around this time, one that was more attuned to the spirit and needs of the new America. Although newspapers continued to cover polities, they came to report more human interest stories and to record the most recent news, which they could not have done before the telegraph. New York papers and those of other northern cities maintained corps of correspondents to go into all parts of the country to cover newsworthy events.

5. The main purpose of the passage is to

6. What is the most probable topic of the paragraph preceding this one?

7. The tone of the passage could best be described as

In the western third of North America, the conv<iluted folds of the Earth’s surface and its fractured geologic structure tend to absorb the seismic energy of an earthquake. Even if an earthquake measuring 8.5 on the Richter scale struck Los Angeles, its force would fade by the time it reached San Francisco, some 400 miles away. But in the eastern two thirds of the continent the same energy travels more easily. The earthquake that struck New Madrid, Missouri, in 1811, estimated at 8 on the Richter scale, shook Washington, D.C., about 800 miles away, and was felt as far as Boston and Toronto.

8. Which of the following best expresses the main idea of this passage?

There has never been an adult scientist who has been half as curious as any child between the ages of four months and four years. Adults sometimes mistake this superb curiosity about everything as a lack of ability to concentrate. The truth is that children begin to learn at birth, and by the time they begin formal schooling at the age of five or six, they have already absorbed a fantastic amount of information, perhaps more, fact for fact, than they will learn for the rest of their lives. Adults can multiply by many times the knowledge children absorb if they appreciate this curiosity while Simultaneously encouraging the children to learn.

9. With which of the following statements would the author probably agree?

10. The paragraph following this one most likely deals with

Settlement houses were institutions established to improve living conditions in poor city neighborhoods in the late 1800’s and early 1900’s. They offered health, educational, recreational, and cultural activities. The first to open in the United States was University Settlement in New York City. It was established by the social reformer Stanton Coit in 1886. The most famous example was Hull House, established by the well-known reformer Jane Addams in Chicago in 1890. Settlement houses were usually staffed by idealistic young college graduates who were eager to improve the condition of the poor.

11. The passage mainly discusses

The dancer Isadora Duncan was a daring, dynamic innovator in dance. While she was not very successful in teaching her highly personal style of dance to others, she taught a generation of dancers to trust their own forms of expression. She rebelled against the rigid, formal style of classical ballet. Inspired by the art of Greece, she usually danced barefoot in a loose, flowing Greek tunic. She found further inspiration in nature and used dance movements to mirror the waves of the sea and passing clouds.

Isadora Duncan was born in San Francisco in 1878. She gave her first performance in 1899. Early failures gave way to triumphant performances in Budapest, Berlin, London, and finally, in 1908, back in the United States. She lived in Europe most of her life, establishing dancing schools for children there. She died in 1927 near Nice, France, in a freak accident, her long scarf being caught in the wheel of an open sports car in which she was riding.

12. The author’s attitude toward Isadora Duncan could best be described as one of

13. Which of the following best describes the organization of the passage?