Chapter 4

Reading Practice Test

Reading Test

65 MINUTES, 52 QUESTIONS

Turn to Section 1 of your answer sheet to answer the questions in this section.

DIRECTIONS

Each passage or pair of passages below is followed by a number of questions. After reading each passage or pair, choose the best answer to each question based on what is stated or implied in the passage or passages and in any accompanying graphics (such as a table or graph).

Questions 1–10 are based on the following passage.

The following passage is an excerpt from a memoir written by writer John Burke, about the novelist Joseph Heller.

I became a fan of Joseph Heller’s writing while I was a student in high school in the 1970s. His most famous book, Catch-22, was practically an anthem for my friends and me. We had dissected it, sitting in the park outside school, reciting certain key passages aloud and proclaiming to anyone who would listen that this was quite possibly the best book ever written. Nearly twenty years later I am not sure that we were wrong. Heller created a modern-day anti-hero who was a soldier trying to stay sane in the midst of a war in which he no longer believed. This spoke to my generation, growing up as we did during the turmoil of Vietnam, and—however you felt about the issue—his ideas were considered important. I had spent many hours imagining what the man who had created the savage wit and brilliant imagery of that book would be like in person. I was soon to find out. To this day, I have no idea how it was arranged, but somehow an invitation to speak at my high school was extended and duly accepted. On the day, I made sure to be near the gate of the school to see him arrive. I was looking for a limousine, or perhaps an entourage of reporters surrounding the man whose dust-jacket picture I had scrutinized so
often. But suddenly, there he was, completely alone, walking hesitantly toward the school like just a normal person. He walked by me, and I was amazed to see that he was wearing rather tattered sneakers, down at the heel. When he began speaking in the auditorium, I was dumbfounded, for he had a very heavy speech impediment. “That can’t be him,” I whispered loudly to a friend. “He sounds like a dork.” My notions of a brilliant man at that time did not extend to a speech impediment—or any handicap whatsoever. Ordinary people were handicapped, but not men of brilliance. There was, in fact, a fair amount of whispering going on in the auditorium. And then somehow, we began to listen to what he was saying. He was completely brilliant. He seemed to know just what we were thinking and articulated feelings that I had only barely known that I had. He spoke for forty minutes and held us all spellbound. I
would not have left my seat even if I could. As I listened, I began to feel awaken in me the possibility of being more than I had supposed that I could be. With some difficulty I managed to get to the school gate again and waited for twenty minutes while I suppose he signed autographs and fielded questions inside the auditorium. Eventually, he came out, as he had come in, alone. I screwed up all my courage and called to him, “Mr. Heller.” He almost didn’t stop but then he turned around and came over to me. “I just wanted to say how much I enjoyed your book.” He looked down at me in my wheelchair, smiled as if it was the most normal thing in the world and shook my hand. I think that day may have been very important in the future direction of my life.

1. The main purpose of the passage is to

A) illustrate that authors do not make as much money as people may expect.

B) describe an event that may have changed the author’s perception of himself.

C) prove that Catch-22 is the best book ever written.

D) provide insight into the contrast between how people expect the famous to behave and how they actually do.

2. Which choice provides the best evidence for the answer to the previous question?

A) Lines 4–7 (“We…written”)

B) Lines 22–25 (“I was…often”)

C) Lines 41–42 (“He was…thinking”)

D) Lines 61–62 (“I think…life”)

3. Based on the information the passage provides about Heller’s novel, Catch-22 can best be described as

A) a provocative book that appealed almost exclusively to young men.

B) a memoir whose appeal depended on readers’ proximity to the events that had influenced its creation.

C) a novel whose brilliance might appeal to people who were not directly affected by U.S. involvement in Vietnam.

D) an inspiring and realistic account of one soldier’s valor.

4. The author uses the phrase “however you felt about the issue” (line 13) to signal

A) that not all critics agreed with the author’s assessment of Catch-22’s excellence.

B) that the book was valued by the author and his friends because of its ability to stir up debate.

C) that the Vietnam War was the subject of much debate.

D) that books can generate strong emotional responses in readers.

5. The author quotes his own comment to his friend in lines 33–34 primarily in order to

A) emphasize the strength of his initial reaction to Heller’s speech.

B) suggest that the reason Heller almost didn’t stop as he was leaving was that he had overheard this comment.

C) highlight the author’s suspicion that Heller had sent a stand-in to deliver his speech.

D) inject some humor to counterbalance the overall somber nature of the passage.

6. The author describes Heller’s speech (lines 30–45) primarily in order to

A) show that the students’ initial skepticism was overcome by their interest in what he was saying.

B) illustrate the powerful effect a good speaker can have.

C) provide a warning not to judge people by how they speak.

D) respond to charges that Heller’s work is overrated.

7. Which choice provides the best evidence for the answer to the previous question?

A) Lines 30–32 (“When…impediment”)

B) Lines 38–39 (“There…auditorium”)

C) Lines 40–41 (“And then…brilliant”)

D) Lines 43–44 (“He…spellbound”)

8. In the context of the passage as a whole, it can be inferred that the most likely cause of the “difficulty” (line 48) the author had in returning to the school gate was the

A) effect of the emotions Heller’s speech had generated.

B) crowd of other students who were waiting to see Heller’s departure.

C) injury the author had sustained in the Vietnam War.

D) fact that he has limited physical mobility.

9. In line 50, “fielded” most nearly means

A) answered.

B) evaded.

C) asked.

D) caught.

10. It can be inferred from the passage that the most likely reason the author had to “screw up all [his] courage” (line 53) was that

A) he was embarrassed about his own speech impediment.

B) he greatly admired Heller.

C) he was afraid Heller would not respond to him.

D) he thought Heller would be annoyed to deal with another student.

Questions 11–21 are based on the following passages.

The following two passages present two views of the funeral industry in the United States. The first passage is an excerpt from a book written in 1963 by a journalist and takes a hard look at funeral practices at the time. The second passage was written in the 1980s by a member of the funeral business and looks at the changes in the industry since the first book appeared.

Passage 1

Oh death, where is thy sting? O grave, where is thy victory? Where, indeed. Many a badly stung survivor faced with the aftermath of some relative’s funeral has ruefully concluded that the victory has been won hands down by a funeral establishment—in disastrously unequal battle. Much has been written of late about the affluent society in which we live, and much fun poked at some of the irrational “status symbols” set out like golden snares to trap the unwary consumer at every turn. Until recently, little has been said about the most irrational and weirdest of the lot, lying in ambush for all of us at the end of the road—the modern American funeral. If the dismal traders (as an eighteenth-century English writer calls them) have traditionally been cast in a comic role in literature, a universally recognized symbol of humor from Shakespeare to Dickens to Evelyn Waugh, they have successfully turned the tables in recent years to perpetrate a huge, macabre, and
expensive practical joke on the American public. It is not consciously conceived of as a joke, of course; on the contrary, it is hedged with admirably contrived rationalizations. Gradually, almost imperceptibly, over the years, the funeral men have constructed their own grotesque cloud-cuckoo-land where the trappings of Gracious Living are transformed, as in a nightmare, into the trappings of Gracious Dying. The same familiar Madison Avenue language has seeped into the funeral industry. So that this too, too solid flesh might not melt, we are offered “solid copper—a quality casket which offers superb value to the client seeking long-lasting protection,” or the “colonial Classic Beauty—18 gauge lead-coated steel, seamless top, lap-jointed welded body construction.” Some caskets are equipped with foam rubber, some with innerspring mattresses. One company actually offers “the revolutionary Perfect-Posture bed.”

Passage 2

In the past 20 years, many of the questionable excesses of the funeral trade have been curbed: legislation and self-policing by funeral home associations have brought some measure of regulation to an industry that was at one time sadly deficient. And yet, if the sharp practices of shoddy morticians are no longer cause for customers to “whirl in their urns,” as Jessica Mitford once put it so trenchantly, I fear that we may have somehow tilted too far in the other direction. True, the costs of funerals in the 1960s were escalating out of all proportion to real value, but I am convinced that in our search for economy and avoidance of discomfort we have weakened a very important family rite. Consider the case of one funeral “park” in Southern California that has instituted “drive-in” funerals. Believe it or not, you can view the remains, attend the chapel service, and witness the interment—all without leaving your car. To the extent that measures such as these have cut costs, I would applaud, but in my opinion these
measures have also produced a disconnection from the real purposes of a funeral. The process of spending time mourning the dead fills a real need for the bereaved. There is a purpose to each of the steps of a funeral, and if there is a commensurate cost to those steps, then so be it. These days it is possible to have a funeral without a service for friends and family to gather, without a graveside interment, even without a casket. More frequently now, families will ask that contributions to charity be made in lieu of flowers and wreaths—without recognizing that buying flowers provides a chance for friends and relatives to show their concern in a more tangible way than a gift to charity. Let us not forget that feelings are as important as economy.

11. The first paragraph suggests that the “sting” referred to in the question, “Oh death, where is thy sting?” (line 1) is

A) the suffering from which the dead are released.

B) the consequence of the bitterness when heirs fight over an inheritance.

C) the challenges and costs of dealing with the funeral industry.

D) the painful recognition of all that the dying leave behind.

12. It can be inferred from the passage that the “dismal traders” (line 14) are

A) undertakers.

B) shopkeepers.

C) famous writers.

D) practical jokers.

13. The phrase “Madison Avenue language” is used by the author of passage 1 (line 29) to describe language aimed at

A) distracting mourners from the pain of their losses.

B) persuading people to buy things they don’t need.

C) evoking the nightmarish aftermath of sudden death.

D) helping people to live graciously even in their suffering.

14. The examples provided in the last paragraph of passage 1 primarily serve to

A) illustrate how many different casket options are available.

B) demonstrate that modern undertakers have a sense of humor.

C) point to some ironies in the way modern funeral trappings are marketed.

D) highlight the extent to which some caskets will delay the decaying of a corpse.

15. The primary purpose of the second passage is to

A) condemn some new practices as ineffective in terms of addressing the escalating costs of funerals.

B) speculate on how Jessica Mitford might respond to the recent changes in the funeral industry.

C) argue that recent cost-cutting measures have had a detrimental effect on how funerals serve the mourners.

D) suggest that the purposes of each step in a funeral be spelled out more clearly.

16. Which choice provides the best evidence for the answer to the previous question?

A) Lines 40–41 (“In the…curbed”)

B) Lines 49–53 (“True…rite”)

C) Lines 55–57 (“Believe…car”)

D) Lines 68–70 (“More…wreaths”)

17. In line 41, “curbed” most nearly means

A) brought under control.

B) made public.

C) eliminated.

D) allowed to proliferate.

18. According to the second passage, the excesses of the funeral trade have been changed for the better as a result of the

A) passage of time.

B) institution of services such as drive-in funerals.

C) elimination of flowers and wreaths at services.

D) actions of legislators and trade associations.

19. The author of passage 2 cites the example of “drive-in funerals” (line 55) in order to

A) illustrate the kind of practices that are detrimental to an essential function of funerals.

B) condemn people who consent to mourn this way.

C) demonstrate the ways the funeral industry has changed for the better.

D) rebut claims that the funeral industry has failed to change in the past twenty years.

20. The phrase “in lieu of” (line 69) most nearly means

A) instead of.

B) as well as.

C) because of.

D) in the form of.

21. The authors of both passages are likely to agree that the funeral industry

A) preys on the suffering of the bereaved.

B) is unlikely to change.

C) engages in widespread shoddy practices.

D) was in a troubled state in the 1960s.

Questions 22–31 are based on the following passage.

Scientists, theologians, and lay persons have debated the origins of life on Earth for hundreds of years. The following passage presents one scientist’s explanation.

How did the earliest, most primitive, forms of life begin? Let’s start with the formation of Earth 4.5 billion years ago. We can allow the first few hundred million years to pass while Earth settles down to more or less its present state. It cools down and squeezes out an ocean and an atmosphere. The surrounding hydrogen is swept away by the solar wind, and the rain of meteors out of which Earth was formed dwindles and virtually ceases. Then, perhaps 4,000 million years ago, Earth is reasonably quiet and the period of “chemical evolution” begins. The first live molecules are small ones made up of two to five atoms each—the simplest form of life we can imagine—a single-strand RNA molecule. Different scientific theories have been proposed as to how this molecule first came into being. In 1908 the Swedish chemist Svante August Arrhenius theorized that life on Earth began when spores (living, but capable of very long periods of suspended animation) drifted across space for millions of years, perhaps until some landed on our planet and were brought back to active life by its gentle environment. This is highly dramatic, but even if we imagine
that Earth was seeded from another world, which, long, long before, had been seeded from still another world, we must still come back to some period when life began on some world through spontaneous generation—and we may as well assume that this generation began on Earth. Why not? Even if spontaneous generation does not (or, possibly, cannot) take place on Earth now, conditions on the primordial Earth were so different that what seems a firm rule now may not have been so firm then. What won’t happen spontaneously may well happen if energy is supplied. In the primordial Earth, there were energy sources—volcanic heat, lightning, and most of all, sunshine. At that time, Earth’s atmosphere did not contain oxygen, or its derivative, ozone, and the Sun’s energetic ultraviolet rays would reach Earth’s surface undiluted. In 1954 a chemistry student, Stanley Lloyd Miller, made a fascinating discovery that shed light on the
passage from a substance that is definitely unliving to one that is, in however simple a fashion, alive. He began with a mixture of water, ammonia, methane, and hydrogen (materials he believed to have been present on Earth at its beginning). He made sure his mixture was sterile and had no life of any kind in it. He then circulated it past an electric discharge (to mimic the energy sources roiling the planet at that time). At the end of a week, he analyzed his solution and found that some of its small molecules had been built up to larger ones. Among these larger molecules were glycine and alanine, the two simplest of the twenty amino acids. This was the first proof that organic material could have been formed from the inanimate substances that existed on Earth so long ago.

Note: The Volcanic Spark Discharge Experiment was done in 2008 by a student of Stanley Miller’s. Miller’s original vials, still sealed from the 1950s, were re-analyzed using the most recent techniques and technologies.

22. Which choice best reflects the overall sequence of events in the passage?

A) A theory is proposed, tested, and proved to be impossible; an alternative theory is then presented.

B) A difficult question is introduced and the reasons why the question is difficult to answer definitively are explored in some detail.

C) The assertion is made that a scientific conundrum is impossible to answer and several experiments are described as illustration of the futility of tackling the problem.

D) A challenging question is introduced, a theory is set forth, and its key limitation is raised before a second theory is put forward and a related experiment is described.

23. The author’s assertion that “We can allow the first few hundred million years to pass” (lines 3–4) primarily reflects the author’s sense that

A) humans have no way to fully measure or comprehend the long history of Earth.

B) it would take far too long to describe the history of Earth in detail.

C) the most relevant aspects of Earth’s history for the purposes of the passage are those that emerged about 4 billion years ago.

D) time and tide wait for no man.

24. The author most likely views the theories of Svante August Arrhenius as

A) innovative and daring.

B) dramatic but too elaborate.

C) interesting but unlikely.

D) illogical and impossible.

25. The word “generation” in line 29 most nearly means

A) creation.

B) reproduction.

C) offspring.

D) forebears.

26. It can be inferred that the fact that in primordial times “Earth’s atmosphere did not contain oxygen” (lines 39–40) is significant to the author’s explanation primarily because

A) without oxygen, human life could not exist.

B) all energy sources produce more intense heat in the absence of oxygen.

C) the question of how oxygen made its way into Earth’s atmosphere has not been answered definitively.

D) without oxygen, the atmosphere lacked ozone to block some of the Sun’s rays.

27. The author uses the example of Stanley Lloyd Miller’s experiment primarily to

A) introduce the idea that laboratory confirmation of a theoretical possibility exists.

B) suggest the need for further research in the field.

C) speculate about the materials that were present when the Earth was first created.

D) highlight the significance of amino acids in understanding the origins of life.

28. Which choice provides the best evidence for the answer to the previous question?

A) Lines 43–46 (“In 1954…alive”)

B) Lines 46–49 (“He…beginning”)

C) Lines 52–55 (“At the…ones”)

D) Lines 55–56 (“Among…acids”)

29. The author’s conclusion at the end of the last paragraph would be most directly supported by additional information concerning

A) what other chemical materials were present on Earth 4 billion years ago.

B) what factors might have kept life from emerging earlier.

C) whether other scientists were able to re-create Miller’s experiments and achieve similar results.

D) whether the addition of other chemicals into Miller’s initial mixture changed the experiment’s outcome.

30. Which of the following claims is supported by the table?

A) More amino acids were discovered in the twentieth century than in the twenty-first century.

B) New technologies are able to detect more amino acids than were earlier technologies.

C) All the proteins discovered in the Miller-Urey experiment have the ability to form organic material.

D) The Volcanic Spark Discharge experiment found exactly twice as many amino acids as the Miller-Urey Experiment.

31. Information presented in the table most directly supports which idea from the passage?

A) Spores drifting across space landed on the planet and were brought back to life.

B) An energy source could prompt spontaneous generation of life from existing elements.

C) Because of the lack of oxygen in the atmosphere, the rays of early Earth’s sun were undiluted.

D) The simplest lifeform imaginable is a single-strand RNA molecule.

Questions 32–42 are based on the following passage.

The following passage relates some conclusions the author draws after listening to a seminar speaker denounce some modern conveniences for their negative effects on people’s personal lives.

Several weeks ago, when the weather was still fine, I decided to eat my lunch on the upper quad, an expanse of lawn stretching across the north end of campus and hedged in by ancient pine trees on one side and university buildings on the other. Depositing my brown paper lunch bag on the grass beside me, I munched in silence, watching the trees ripple in the wind and musing over the latest in a series of “controversial” symposiums I had attended that morning. The speaker, an antiquated professor in suspenders and a mismatched cardigan, had delivered an earnest diatribe against modern tools of convenience like electronic mail and instant messaging programs. I thought his speech was interesting, but altogether too romantic. My solitude was broken by two girls, deep in conversation, who approached from behind and sat down on the grass about ten feet to my left. I stared hard at my peanut butter sandwich, trying to not eavesdrop, but their stream of chatter intrigued me. They interrupted each other frequently, paused at the same awkward moments, and responded to each other’s statements as if neither one heard what the other said. Confused, I stole a glance at them out
of the corner of my eye. I could tell that they were college students by their style of dress and the heavy backpacks sinking into the grass beside them. Their body language and proximity also indicated that they were friends. Instead of talking to each other, however, each one was having a separate dialogue on her cell phone. As I considered this peculiar scene, this morning’s bleary-eyed lecturer again intruded into my thoughts. His point in the symposium was that, aside from the disastrous effects of emails and chatting on the spelling, grammar, and punctuation of the English language, these modern conveniences also considerably affect our personal lives. Before the advent of electronic mail, people wrote letters. Although writing out words by hand posed an inconvenience, it also conferred certain important advantages. The writer had time to think about his message, about how he could best phrase it in order to help his reader understand him, about how he could convey his emotions without the use of dancing
and flashing smiley face icons. When he finished his letter, he had created a permanent work of art to which a hurriedly typed email or abbreviated chat room conversation could never compare. The temporary, impersonal nature of computers, Professor Spectacles concluded, is gradually rendering our lives equally temporary and impersonal. And what about cell phones? I thought. I have attended classes where students, instead of turning off their cell phones for the duration of the lecture, leave the classroom to take calls without the slightest hint of embarrassment. I have sat in movie theaters and ground my teeth in frustration at the person behind me who can’t wait until the movie is over to give his colleague a scene-by-scene replay. And then I watched each girl next to me spend her lunch hour talking to someone else instead of her friend. Like the rest of the world, these two pay a significant price for the benefits of convenience and the added safety of being in constant contact with the world. When they have a
cell phone, they are never alone, but then again, they are never alone. They may not recognize it, but those girls, like most of us, could use a moment of solitude. Cell phones make it so easy to reach out and touch someone that they have us confused into thinking that being alone is the same thing as being lonely. It’s all right to disconnect from the world every once in a while; in fact, I feel certain that our sanity and identity as humans necessitate it. And I’m starting to think that maybe the Whimsical Professor ranting about his “technological opiates” is not so romantic after all.

32. The structure of the passage overall can best be characterized as

A) a narrative that traces the development of the author’s ideas on a topic that is raised by some people the author encounters during the events described.

B) a balanced assessment of a theory that is introduced, considered, and ultimately debunked.

C) a short anecdote followed by the introduction of a theory and the presentation of evidence related to that theory.

D) a consideration of several sides of an issue that is generally understood to be outdated, followed by a conclusion that redefines the terms under discussion.

33. The author’s ultimate attitude toward the symposium speaker can best be described as

A) assent tinged with irreverence.

B) puzzlement tinged by scorn.

C) disagreement coupled with dislike.

D) affection bolstered by nostalgia.

34. Which choice provides the best evidence for the answer to the previous question?

A) Lines 10–14 (“The speaker…programs”)

B) Lines 32–33 (“As I…thoughts”)

C) Lines 48–51 (“The temporary…impersonal”)

D) Lines 74–76 (“And I’m…all”)

35. In the context of the overall passage, the details about the setting in which the author sat to eat lunch serve primarily to

A) paint a picture in the reader’s mind.

B) raise the question of whether the same conclusion would have been reached if the author had encountered the two girls in a busier, urban setting.

C) contribute to the author’s growing awareness that there is some validity to what is initially portrayed as the speaker’s antiquated or overly romantic viewpoint.

D) evoke a sense of an idyllic college campus.

36. The author’s decision to use quotation marks around the word “controversial” in line 9 and to italicize the phrase “they are never alone” in lines 65–66 can best be described as

A) a variation in techniques that is intended to keep the reader’s interest by avoiding too much repetition.

B) an inconsistency that might have been pointed out by a copyeditor.

C) a matter of personal preference that reinforces the author’s whimsical approach to the material.

D) a desire to call the use of one term into question and to suggest an alternative interpretation of the other.

37. The main purpose of the third paragraph is to

A) link the symposium speaker’s outdated argument to his age and fatigue.

B) contrast the modern attitudes of the girls on their phones with the antiquated ideas of the symposium speaker.

C) relate the events that occurred after the author encountered the two girls on their cell phones.

D) explain the main points of the symposium speaker’s address.

38. Based on the information in the passage, with which of the following statements about the “dancing and flashing smiley face icons” mentioned in lines 44–45 is the symposium speaker most likely to agree?

A) The use of such icons in anything but the most informal message is inappropriate.

B) The use of such icons might result in less reflection and less attention to the finer points of language selection.

C) Such icons have no place in a work of art.

D) The tendency of such icons to both dance and flash illustrates the exaggerated nature of most computer-facilitated communication.

39. The author provides the instances listed in lines 52–61 primarily as examples of

A) pet peeves that the author believes many other people can relate to.

B) experiences in the author’s life that offer support to the symposium speaker’s thesis.

C) rude behavior that the previous generation would not have tolerated.

D) occasions that reveal the need for a new etiquette guide to be written for the digital age.

40. What is the “significant price” (line 62) that is paid by the two girls the author observes during lunch?

A) The relatively higher phone bills they pay for using so much data

B) The confusion caused by trying to carry on a phone conversation when surrounded by other people

C) The sacrifice of opportunities for introspection and solitude

D) The awkward pauses that sometimes emerge in phone conversations when one of the participants is distracted

41. Which of the following would be the best title for a speech countering the arguments of the “Whimsical Professor” (line 75)?

A) “The Romance of Written Communication”

B) “Ties That Bind: How Electronic Communication Brings Us Together”

C) “Spelling Reform for the Computer Age”

D) “Too Convenient?: Benefits and Costs of Instant Communication”

42. As used in lines 15 and 76, the word “romantic” most nearly means

A) concerned with expressions of affection and love.

B) having an academic interest in the Romantic period.

C) not directly or practically applicable to current circumstances.

D) not platonic.

Questions 43–52 are based on the following passage.

Adapted from Bradley J. Phillips, Coronal Mass Ejections: New Research Directions. Journal of Solar Research, 2009.

The idea that the sun has an almost unambiguously benign effect on our planet appears, on the surface, to be an incontrovertible one. Few people realize, however, that certain events on the sun can have disastrous consequences for life here on Earth. The geomagnetic storm is one such phenomenon. These storms begin on the surface of the sun when a group of sunspots creates a burst of electromagnetic radiation. These bursts thrust billions of tons of ionized gas, known as plasma, into space; scientists refer to these solar projections as coronal mass ejections (CMEs). After this initial explosion, the CME gets caught up in a shower of particles, also known as a “solar wind,” that continuously rains down on the Earth from the sun. The last recorded instance of a major CME occurred in 1989, when the resulting geomagnetic storm knocked out an entire electrical power grid, depriving over six million energy consumers of power for an extended period. As we become increasingly dependent on new technologies to sustain ourselves in our day-to-day activities, the potential havoc wrought by a major CME becomes even more distressing. Scientists conjecture that a “perfect storm” would have the potential to knock out power grids across the globe
and create disruptions in the orbit of low-altitude communication satellites, rendering such satellites practically useless. What troubles scientists most about these “perfect storms” is not only their potential for interstellar mischief, but also the fact that they are so difficult to forecast. For one thing, remarkable though these solar occurrences might be, they are still a relatively rare phenomenon, and the few existing records regarding major CMEs provide researchers with scant information from which to draw conclusions about their behavior. Solar storm watchers are frustrated by yet another limitation: time. CMEs have been known to travel through space at speeds approaching 5 million miles per hour, which means they can cover the 93 million miles between the sun and the Earth in well under 20 hours. (Some have been known to travel the same distance in as little as 14 hours.) The difficulties created by this narrow window of opportunity are compounded by the fact that scientists are able to
determine the orientation of a CME’s magnetic field only about 30 minutes before it reaches the atmosphere, giving them little or no time to predict the storm’s potential impact on the surface. Some world governments hope to combat this problem by placing a satellite in orbit around the sun to monitor activity on its surface, in the hopes that this will buy scientists more time to predict the occurrence and intensity of geomagnetic storms. In the meantime, many energy providers are responding to the CME threat by installing voltage control equipment and limiting the volume of electricity generated by some power stations.

43. Over the course of the passage, the focus shifts from

A) detailing the more positive aspects of an astronomical phenomenon to enumerating the counterbalancing costs of the phenomenon.

B) describing a phenomenon in layman’s terms to explaining the same phenomenon in scientific language.

C) introducing a relatively unknown danger to explaining the more challenging aspects of trying to address that danger.

D) warning of the dangers of a new phenomenon to celebrating the steps taken by governments to combat the dangers of that phenomenon.

44. The phrase “almost unambiguously benign” in lines 1–2 describes

A) the effect of the sun on the surface of Earth.

B) a failure to understand the effects of ultraviolet rays.

C) most people’s understanding of the effects of the sun on Earth.

D) solar projections that are referred to as coronal mass ejections.

45. With which of the following statements would the author of the passage be most likely to agree?

A) If more people knew about the harm that CMEs might cause, governments would be better able to implement their plans to offset the dangers.

B) The negative effects of CMEs on humans are likely to continue to worsen.

C) Scientists will not be able to overcome the challenges created by the great speed at which CMEs travel.

D) The term perfect storm is fittingly ironic when applied to a storm that can cause such immense damage.

46. Which choice provides the best evidence for the answer to the previous question?

A) Lines 3–5 (“Few…Earth”)

B) Lines 19–22 (“As we…distressing”)

C) Lines 23–27 (“Scientists…useless”)

D) Lines 37–41 (“CMEs…hours”)

47. Based on information in the passage, which of the following best describes the relationship between CMEs and geomagnetic storms?

A) Scientists know that CMEs occur daily, whereas the frequency of geomagnetic storms has not been accurately determined.

B) A geomagnetic storm is defined by changes in the DST, whereas a CME is a cause of changes in the DST.

C) The term CME refers to particularly large ejections of plasma, whereas the term geomagnetic storm applies to all ejections of plasma.

D) Coronal mass ejections are the solar phenomena that result in geomagnetic storms on Earth.

48. As used in line 44, “compounded by” most nearly means

A) derived from.

B) undone by.

C) combined with.

D) worsened by.

49. According to the passage, some governments seek to address the challenges of predicting when and how a CME will affect Earth by

A) developing a coordinating network of solar storm watchers to ensure that every CME is spotted as soon as it occurs.

B) moving as much as possible of the electrical power grid infrastructure underground.

C) placing a satellite in orbit around the sun.

D) installing voltage control equipment and increasing the volume of electricity generated by some power stations.

50. As used in line 52, “buy” most nearly means

A) provide.

B) earn.

C) waste.

D) purchase.

51. Which of the following statements is consistent with information in the passage and the graph?

A) In the period from 1980 to 2007, the most major CME and its correspondingly bad geomagnetic storm occurred in 2001.

B) In the years covered by the graph, the 6-year period in which CMEs most affected Earth was between 1980 and 1986.

C) Another very strong CME was due to occur in the years between 2007 and 2010.

D) The DST measure is inversely proportional to the strength of geomagnetic storm activity.

52. Which statement is best supported by the data presented in the graph?

A) One troubling aspect of CMEs is the difficulty in predicting when one will occur.

B) CMEs travel through space at speeds that approach 5 million miles per hour.

C) Only a storm as massive as the one that occurred at the end of the 1980s could wreak major havoc on the United States.

D) Scientists are currently able to determine the orientation of a CME’s magnetic field less than an hour before the storm reaches Earth’s atmosphere.