Reading Comprehension Quiz

1. 1. Questions 1–3 refer to the following passage.

   2. It is believed that half or more of the languages spoken on Earth will be extinct within a century. The United Nations Educational, Scientific, and Cultural Organization (UNESCO), which monitors endangered languages, says that “with each vanishing language, an irreplaceable element of human thought in its multiform variations is lost forever.” As the world becomes more interconnected, many languages, as well as the culture captured within them, may be lost.
      There is a strong link between language and cultural identity. In nineteenth-century Japan, attempts to assimilate the Ainu people into Japanese culture included banning their language; some indigenous languages in both North America and Australia suffered the same fate. Many of those languages are lost or dying. With loss of language comes loss of links to the past and feelings of belonging to a community, which research has linked to mental health. One study of Aboriginal communities found that youth suicide rates dropped to almost zero when the residents had conversational knowledge of native languages.
      One problem endangered languages face is lack of official recognition. Residents of a country are expected to know its official language or languages, but many countries do little to recognize minority regional languages. Take Basque, a language spoken in both Spain and France. In France, only French is recognized as an official language. In Spain, the constitution allows for regional recognition of official languages besides Spanish, so in Basque-speaking parts of the country, both Spanish and Basque are official languages. It is not surprising, therefore, that UNESCO cites Basque as “vulnerable” in Spain but “critically endangered” in France.
      Consider, in contrast, the case of Finnish. This tongue is not endangered, even though Finland was ruled from the Middle Ages until 1917 by first Sweden and then Russia and, during this period, Swedish was used as the language of administration and government. In 1919, a newly independent Finland constitutionally adopted both Finnish and Swedish as official languages, legally recognizing its native language as important to its burgeoning national identity. As of 2013, Finnish was spoken by 89 percent of the population of Finland.
      In order to preserve languages that will otherwise be lost, linguists have proposed creating a database of endangered languages. But how would an academic repository serve the often marginalized groups that speak such languages? While directed toward a noble goal, this project would fail to address the issue of language’s critical role in preserving a sense of cultural identity.
   1. According to the passage, Basque is more endangered in France than in Spain because
      1. France has suppressed Basque in order to maintain a French cultural identity
      2. there are more Basque speakers in Spain than in France
      3. Basque has no governmental recognition as an official language in France
      4. multiple languages are recognized as official throughout Spain
      5. Basque-speaking regions in Spain have developed a separate cultural identity
   2. Which of the following statements, if true, would support the assertion that Finnish was “important to [Finland’s] burgeoning national identity” (lines 26–27)?
      1. Speaking Finnish after 1919 became a point of pride for those in Finland, whereas it previously had often been a source of shame.
      2. Both Swedish and Finnish were taught in Finnish schools after 1919, just as they had been before the new constitution was adopted.
      3. Finland adopted a new flag and national anthem after the new constitution was approved in 1919.
      4. Some people in Finland continued to use Swedish as their preferred language even after Finnish was adopted as an official language.
      5. Those who worked to modernize Finnish in the late nineteenth century so it would achieve broader acceptance favored the western dialect over the eastern.
   3. Which of the following statements most clearly exemplifies the aspect of language extinction that UNESCO considers problematic?
      1. As one of the world’s oldest languages, Basque is worth preserving as a living historical artifact as well as a modern spoken language.
      2. Because scholars have been unable to translate the Linear A script, the intellectual capital of the culture that produced it remains inaccessible.
      3. Because Socrates did not leave behind any written works, his ideas have been preserved only through secondhand sources.
      4. Most linguists term Korean a “language isolate” because it is not known to be related to any other languages.
      5. Because it has no equivalent word in many languages, “serendipity” is a particularly difficult term to translate.

2. 1. Questions 4–6 refer to the following passage.

   2. Unlike vaccinations for polio, measles, mumps, and many other virus-borne diseases, which yield lifetime protection with one vaccination or a short series of vaccinations, vaccinations combating the influenza virus must be administered annually, and even then they may not be fully successful in preventing illness. The reason for this striking difference is the ability of the influenza virus to evolve quickly. The antigens, the parts of the influenza virus recognized by the human body, include two important surface proteins, hemagglutinin and neuraminidase. Hemagglutinin is involved in the invasion of a cell within the human body, and neuraminidase assists in the release of new viruses from the cell after the viruses are replicated. As hemagglutinin is copied, it is not replicated exactly, so the human immune system does not recognize the mutation as the same protein it has encountered before and does not inaugurate the immune response. In this process, called antigenic drift, the known strains of influenza are recognized and effectively combated, but, unchallenged by the immune system, mutated viruses are able to reproduce freely and, thus, form a new strain of influenza.
      Researchers in immune therapy are working on a variety of innovations to improve influenza vaccinations such as faster methods of production of vaccines and improvements to existing vaccines to strengthen the immune response of the human body. By far the most intriguing of these efforts are researchers’ attempts to produce vaccines that would target the evolutionarily conserved areas of the influenza virus. The stem that attaches hemagglutinin to the virus, the neuraminidase protein, and M2—a protein found in the membrane of the influenza virus—all appear to be nearly identical across virus strains and seem to evolve slowly. While much work remains to be done, a vaccine targeting one of these may be the key to a  one-time immunization protocol that would provide efficacious protection against most influenza strains.
   4. The primary purpose of the passage is to
      1. explain the process by which the influenza virus mutates quickly, thus making the development of a single vaccination impossible
         
      2. identify the action of hemagglutinin within the influenza virus that causes the virus to evolve rapidly
         
      3. compare and contrast the influenza virus with the viruses that cause polio, measles, mumps, and other virus-borne diseases
         
      4. discuss the reason influenza vaccinations are administered annually and recent innovations in research that may address this anomaly
         
      5. describe the mechanism of antigenic drift and how this process affects the human immune system
   5. It can be inferred from the passage that the author believes which of the following to be true about a vaccine that could provide permanent protection against influenza with a single immunization protocol? 
      1. Research into such a vaccine is promising, and the vaccine will be available soon if tests are completed successfully.
         
      2. The vaccine could affect neuraminidase or other areas of the virus that do not mutate rapidly.
         
      3. Such a vaccine cannot be effective because hemagglutinin antigens evolve too quickly.
         
      4. The vaccine will most likely target hemagglutinin antigens because their rapid mutation makes them susceptible to the defenses of the human immune system.
         
      5. The vaccine will have a similar mechanism to that of the vaccines now administered for polio, measles, mumps, and other virus-borne diseases.
         
   6. According to the passage, each of the following is true of the influenza virus EXCEPT:
      1. The rapid evolution of hemagglutinin on the surface of the virus can prevent the human immune system from recognizing and attacking the virus.
      2. Some of the surface proteins on the influenza virus have different functions.
      3. The antigenic drift of the influenza virus means that a vaccine against influenza must change frequently.
      4. Annual immunization is not always effective protection against the influenza virus.
      5. The influenza virus is remarkable in its ability to mutate more rapidly than any other known virus.

3. 1. Questions 7–12 refer to the following passage.

   2. Responding to the negative, one-dimensional representation of African Americans in the Hollywood films of the 1970s, the women of Delta Sigma Theta, an African American service sorority, embarked on an ambitious project to produce a feature film that would challenge these stereotypes. Filmmaker S. Torriano Berry recounts in his documentary on the sorority’s efforts how, unfortunately, what could have been a historic project with the power to transform the U.S. entertainment industry failed due to the sorority’s reliance on the major movie studios’ traditional marketing and distribution system.
      Lillian Benbow, the president of Delta Sigma Theta, and the sorority’s Arts and Letters committee headed the effort to raise money for the production of the film, Countdown at Kusini, from donations. While most of the funds were contributed by the thousands of sorority members across the United States, African American entertainment luminaries not only supported the project financially but also donated their talent and expertise. However, after arriving on location in Nigeria, the producers found that lack of qualified technicians, editors, film crews, equipment, and cinematic support services within the country meant that unexpected costs quickly added up, drastically exceeding the initial budget.
      Even with the cost overruns, the movie could have paid for itself and perhaps even turned a modest profit if the sorority’s initial marketing proposal had been followed. When preparing the budget, Delta Sigma Theta expected to use a four-wall marketing plan, in which the sorority’s extensive membership would rent local theaters across the country, then sell tickets to other members, friends, and family. Additional screenings would be held as demand warranted. As one of the oldest and most extensive service sororities, Delta Sigma Theta had enough members in enough cities to at least recoup production costs. However, a major Hollywood film company became aware of the project and approached the sorority with an offer to distribute the film. Buoyed by the interest of the mainstream media, the sorority believed that the film company’s expertise in marketing and distribution would lead to broader exposure and greater opportunities for success. Unfortunately, when the film was released through traditional channels, without any coordination with the local chapters of the sorority, it quickly failed.
      Despite the film’s commercial failure, the project is remarkable for its prescience, providing an early example of crowdfunding and media activism. Delta Sigma Theta took active steps to counter the limited range of stereotypes of African Americans in Hollywood films, and it funded these efforts through numerous small contributions. Moreover, the film’s ultimate impact may not be only historical but also tangible in the modern Nigerian film industry, second in size only to that of India. When Countdown at Kusini was produced, there was no filmmaking infrastructure in Nigeria. While some of the production equipment was brought back to the United States, much was left behind, as well as the newly developed expertise of the local technicians, editors, actors, and production staff who were trained on the film. One of the most intriguing questions surrounding Countdown at Kusini may be that of its effect on the nascent Nigerian film industry.
   7. The primary purpose of the passage is to
      1. criticize Hollywood’s depictions of African Americans in the films of the 1970s
      2. compare and contrast the presentations of African Americans in Countdown at Kusini with those found in Hollywood films
      3. explain how Countdown at Kusini transformed the film industry, particularly in Nigeria
      4. chronicle the reasons for the production of Countdown at Kusini and the film’s significance
      5. describe the technical difficulties encountered in the production of Countdown at Kusini and how they were overcome
   8. The author’s reference to a “four-wall marketing plan” in lines 19–20 serves primarily to 
      1. explain the factors that contributed to the successful release of the film
      2. illustrate the characteristics of a traditional Hollywood film release
      3. contrast the original marketing strategy with the one that subsequently failed
      4. indicate the reasons the sorority’s plan proved to be unworkable
      5. demonstrate why the film was unlikely to recover its production costs
   9. According to the passage, the sorority agreed to the Hollywood film company’s marketing plan for which of the following reasons?
      1. The sorority believed that cost overruns in the production of the film demanded higher sales in order for the film to recover those costs.
      2. The sorority determined the four-wall marketing plan would not be feasible.
      3. The sorority thought that, since the Hollywood film company had more resources and experience, the film company’s plan would be more effective.
      4. The sorority members were not able to rent sufficient theaters to ensure the success of the four-wall marketing strategy.
      5. The sorority members were concentrated in a limited number of geographic locations and needed the broader distribution channels the company was able to provide.
   10. Which of the following best describes the purpose of the fourth paragraph of the passage?
       1. To explain several significant aspects of the film that indicate its historic importance 
       2. To provide further evidence of the failure of the film’s marketing strategy
       3. To present a comprehensive analysis of the effects of the Hollywood film company’s marketing plan 
       4. To contrast the commercial failure of the film with the exceptional effort of the producers
       5. To introduce facts that contradict S. Torriano Berry’s opinion of the film’s significance
   11. The passage suggests that many of the members of Delta Sigma Theta responded to the 1970s Hollywood films featuring African Americans in which of the following ways?
       1. They appreciated the employment opportunities offered by the introduction of major films with primarily African American actors.
       2. They accepted the limited portrayal of African American characters as a first step toward broader media exposure.
       3. They organized campaigns across the country protesting the limited range of stereotypical depictions of African American life in Hollywood films.
       4. They mobilized their financial resources and organizational skills in an effort to present an alternative image of African Americans.
       5. They became aware of the many advantages of mainstream media exposure to challenge negative stereotypes.
   12. It can be inferred from the passage that which of the following is one of the reasons S. Torriano Berry considers Countdown at Kusini a historic African American film?
       1. Countdown at Kusini is the first recorded instance of crowdfunding.
       2. Countdown at Kusini introduced Hollywood studios to the marketing of privately produced films. 
       3. Countdown at Kusini was the first successful film to present a more realistic portrayal of African Americans.
       4. Countdown at Kusini was successful as an educational film despite its commercial failure.
          
       5. Countdown at Kusini may have been instrumental in the establishment of the Nigerian film industry.

4. 1. Questions 13–17 refer to the following passage.

   2. Parfleche is the French name for the Plains peoples’ hoemskot 'eo—an envelope- shaped rawhide container for storing clothes, food, and personal items. The parfleche served not only as a practical and durable storage solution, but also as a decorative object of spiritual significance. Among certain tribes, most notably the Cheyenne and Arapaho, parfleches were decorated by the women’s painting society, whose members among the Cheyenne were known as moneneheo, the Selected Ones. Although similar in their economic and social importance to craftsmen’s guilds in medieval and Renaissance Western Europe, the painting society also had a spiritual or religious nature. The shamanistic society required application for admission and held its members to high artistic and moral standards. The society further displayed its importance by defining aspects of Cheyenne wealth and status. Painting on rawhide was fraught with challenges. If painting was attempted while the prepared hide was too moist, the applied paint bled, but if the hide was too dry, the skin did not absorb the pigments. This restricted the time frame in which painting could best be completed, which meant that designs had to be visualized fully before the work started. Moreover, every aspect of creating a parfleche was a sacred act. Each design element, for instance, was a syntagma—a linguistic or visual unit intended to convey meaning—freighted with symbolic referents. For example, diamond shapes represented the ha ’kot, the grasshopper, an abundant grass eater itself symbolic of the bison, the sacred source of food, shelter, tools, and clothing. The tools used were also symbolic: the shape of the “flesher” used to prepare the hide represented lightning bolts—emblematic of the masculine essence of spirit. The flesher removed the flesh from the hide, transforming it into a spiritual container that would hold earthly matter (the people’s material goods). Even the position of the parfleche in the lodge held symbolic significance. It was stored beneath the bed of older women, not only because they were careful guardians, but also because they were closer to Grandmother Earth, from whose union with the lightning spirit the animals and plants of the middle world came to provide food and shelter. The symbolism of every aspect of the parfleche, therefore, from the interpretable design work on its outside to its storage place within the lodge, reflects the Cheyenne belief in a complementary worldview: the blending of the masculine spirit and the feminine physical matter.
   13. According to the passage, one reason why there was a limited time frame in which to paint a prepared rawhide was that
       1. the pigments dried quickly and thus had to be applied with speed to avoid cracking
       2. if the hide was too dry, it absorbed too much paint
       3. if the hide was too moist, it rejected the pigments
       4. the designs had to be fully visualized before painting was started
       5. if the hide was too moist, the paint bled
   14. The main purpose of the passage is to
       1. describe a tool used among Native Americans when working with rawhide
       2. rebut a commonly held view about the symbolism of the parfleche for the Plains peoples
       3. analyze the societies of the Cheyenne and Arapaho people
       4. propose a new method for analyzing the use of symbolism in Native American art
       5. discuss the spiritual and symbolic importance of a rawhide container and its decorations to several Plains tribes
   15. According to the author, the Cheyenne women’s painting society was unlike Western European guilds of the Middle Ages and the Renaissance in that
       1. application for membership was required
       2. the group had significant economic standing in the community
       3. the group had significant social standing in the community
       4. the women’s painting society was religious in nature
       5. the society had an influence on social standing and material valuation
   16. You can most reasonably conclude that the Cheyenne definition of the term moneneheo (line 6) reflects
       1. the high status some women enjoyed as artists in Cheyenne culture
       2. the shamanistic spiritual origins of the women’s painting society
       3. the notion that artists were chosen by the gods to perform their tasks
       4. the self-restrictive nature of the women’s painting society
       5. a woman’s skill in using rawhide tools such as the “flesher”
   17. The author describes the symbolic meanings of the diamond shape most likely in order to
       1. indicate how precious the completed parfleche was to its owner
       2. prove that the grasshopper was superior to the bison in Cheyenne religion
       3. illustrate the visual complexity of the abstract forms used in creating a parfleche
       4. provide an example of the many layers of symbolism involved in creating a parfleche
       5. demonstrate the relationship between the symbolic shapes of the tools and the abstract designs used in creating a parfleche

5. 1. Questions 18–23 refer to the following passage.

   2. A one-child policy was implemented in China in 1979, and for nearly 40 years, until the policy was amended to allow two children in 2015, some Han Chinese families could legally have only one child. This rule was implemented in an attempt to slow continued growth of a population that had almost doubled since 1949. The Chinese government claimed that the policy prevented 400 million births, though some have suggested that the decline may be at least partly due to economic reasons, not legal ones.
      One result of the policy seems to be the birth and survival of significantly more boys than girls. One study found that China had 33 million more boys than girls under the age of 20, and it is believed that by 2030, 25 percent of Chinese men in their late 30s will never have been married. Research has shown that an excess of men of marriageable age is linked to higher rates of psychological problems, as it creates a marginalized underclass, and history would suggest such situations may correlate with increased aggression and violence, both inside and outside a country’s borders.
      Economist Amartya Sen wrote in 1990 of the phenomenon of “missing women” in population data, noting that in China, “the survival prospects of female children clearly have been unfavorably affected by restrictions on the size of the family.” In a society that has traditionally strongly favored sons, it has been suggested that sex-specific pregnancy terminations and infanticide account for the discrepancy in numbers. But others have countered this argument, believing that disease might better explain the phenomenon, either by making women more likely to give birth to male children or by making it more likely that female children will die prenatally or when very young. For at least some of the missing girls, however, a less sinister explanation may prove the correct one: parents who already had a child, or who wanted to be able to have another in an attempt to have a son, simply never registered their daughters with government officials. A recent study found evidence that as many as 25 million girls were not registered at birth, some of them officially “existing” only many years later and others perhaps never officially existing at all.
   18. The primary purpose of the passage is to
       1. criticize the accepted explanation for missing girls in China since the implementation of the one-child policy
       2. show why the expected population decline in China due to the one-child policy was not due to a decrease in the number of males
       3. demonstrate how China’s one-child policy has influenced past and future birth rates
       4. explore the phenomenon of missing girls in China during the years of the one-child policy
       5. argue that the expected population decline in China due to the one-child policy was due entirely to a decrease in the number of women
   19. According to the passage, which of the following is true of societies in which there are not enough female partners for men of marriageable age?
       1. They occurred historically but are not known to occur in the modern day.
       2. They may be at increased risk of international conflict.
       3. They are more likely to develop when a significant proportion of the population is psychologically damaged.
       4. They are not known to have occurred prior to the modern day.
       5. They can result in the disappearance of women from official records.
   20. The last paragraph in the passage serves primarily to
       1. present multiple potential explanations for a phenomenon described in the second paragraph
       2. offer a critique of explanations put forward for the outcome of the policy in which the author is primarily interested
       3. demonstrate that the least sinister explanation of a troubling phenomenon is the correct one
       4. explain fully the phenomenon described in the second paragraph
       5. outline why social attitudes may explain the result of the policy that is the topic of the passage
   21. According to the passage, each of the following is a possible reason for missing girls in China EXCEPT:
       1. Disease may cause more boys to be born than girls.
       2. The one-child policy does not require girls to be registered.
       3. Disease may cause more girls to die prenatally than boys.
       4. Infanticide of female children occurs because families prefer sons.
       5. Some girls are not registered so that parents can have another child.
   22. Based on information in the passage, which of the following outcomes would have been most likely to occur if a Han Chinese family had a baby daughter prior to 2015?
       1. The parents are eventually pleased to have had a daughter, because there are so many marriageable men.
       2. Because disease may kill the daughter, the parents have another child in hopes of having a son.
       3. The parents appeal to the authorities to approve an exception to the number of children allowed.
       4. Because a pregnancy is more likely to result in a son than a daughter, the parents have another child.
       5. The parents fail to officially register the daughter, and they have another child.
   23. The author mentions a “marginalized underclass” (line 12) most likely in order to
       1. show one potential societal risk of the one-child policy
       2. give an example of why there are more men than women in China
       3. demonstrate that men are inherently more violent than women
       4. argue that widespread poverty may cause people to value boys more than girls
       5. illustrate the effect of the one-child policy on average family income

6. 1. Questions 24–29 refer to the following passage.

   2. Generally, interspecific matings represent an evolutionary dead end, producing sterile offspring, if any at all. For some species of birds, however, such pairings may indeed bring evolutionary advantages to the participants. In the case of the female collared flycatchers of Gotland, three distinct factors may work to make interspecific pairings with pied flycatcher males reproductively beneficial. In many instances, female collared flycatchers nest with male pied flycatchers while continuing to mate with other collared flycatchers, in effect parasitizing the pied flycatchers, who invest in rearing and fledging any offspring. Often, more than half of the offspring raised by interspecific flycatcher pairs are, in fact, not hybrids. Furthermore, an estimated 65 percent of the hybrid offspring of the resident pied flycatcher male are male. Because hybrid females are sterile and males are not, this male bias minimizes the primary disadvantage of interspecific matings: sterile offspring. Habitat specialization may be a third mechanism: these pairings tend to occur in the late spring when the coniferous woods favored by the pied flycatcher provide a greater availability of food than the deciduous woods where the collared flycatchers tend to live. Together, these factors form a mechanism to improve substantially the reproductive success of female collared flycatchers beyond what would be expected of interspecific mating with pied flycatcher males. Although all three of these mechanisms appear to act in concert to form a single elaborate mechanism specifically evolved to circumvent the usual disadvantages of interspecific mating, studies have shown similar motivations for the behavior of female collared flycatchers mating within the species. According to Professor Siever Rohwer, collared flycatcher females will choose to nest with subordinate collared flycatcher males that inhabit good territory because collared flycatcher females must pair-bond in order to be successful in raising offspring. To engender the best offspring, however, the females will continue to copulate with higher-quality collared males with whom they are not paired. Thus, females seem to be nesting with males of any species with the best territories available at the time, but they will continue to mate with more attractive males outside of their pair bonds. A highly unusual behavior, interspecific mating seems to provide certain reproductive advantages to the collared flycatcher female. However, it remains unclear whether the mating behavior of female collared flycatchers evolved to circumvent the usual problems with interspecific mating or whether the behavior is simply an extension of how female collared flycatchers behave when mating within their own species.
   24. The author’s primary purpose is to
       1. criticize the basis of a scientific theory
       2. defend a hypothesis concerning bird-mating behaviors
       3. point out the need for further study of female collared flycatchers
       4. describe two possible explanations for the interspecific mating behavior of female collared flycatchers
       5. defend an unpopular view of a natural phenomenon
   25. According to the passage, female collared flycatchers’ mating with male pied flycatchers could be explained by any of the following reasons EXCEPT:
       1. Food is more available in pied flycatcher territories during the mating season.
       2. Male pied flycatchers can help raise offspring successfully, even if the offspring are not theirs.
       3. Male pied flycatchers sire more female offspring than do collared flycatcher males, increasing the reproductive success of the female collared flycatcher.
       4. Females are known to nest with subordinate males while pursuing extra-pair copulation with higher-quality males.
       5. Females enjoy greater reproductive success by pair-bonding with an inferior male than by not pair-bonding at all.
   26. The bias toward male offspring resulting from the mating of collared flycatcher females and pied flycatcher males is presented as evidence that
       1. collared flycatcher females that mate with pied flycatcher males have more dominant male offspring
       2. the offspring from extra-pair matings with collared flycatcher males are more frequently male
       3. female flycatchers are not deterred from interspecific pairing by the likelihood of sterile hybrid offspring
       4. males are produced to reduce interspecific inbreeding in future generations
       5. interspecific breeding is normal in all varieties of flycatchers
   27. It can be inferred from the passage that
       1. food resources are an important determinant of success in raising offspring
       2. having 50 percent male offspring is not optimal for collared flycatcher pairs
       3. flycatchers generally mate for life
       4. males do not vary in the benefits they provide to their offspring
       5. over half of all females engage in extra-pair matings
   28. Professor Rohwer would most likely agree with which of the following statements?
       1. All traits related to particular functions have evolved only for those particular functions.
       2. Flycatchers represent the best population for studies of bird-mating behavior.
       3. Behaviors may appear functional even under conditions other than those under which the behaviors evolved.
       4. Evolution has played no role in shaping the behavior of interspecifically paired flycatchers.
       5. Hybridization is generally beneficial.
   29. The mating behavior of female collared flycatchers paired with subordinate male flycatchers is offered as
       1. an unwarranted assumption behind the adaptive explanation of interspecific matings
       2. an alternative explanation for pair matings of collared females with pied males
       3. evidence supporting the hypothesis of adaption for interspecific breeding
       4. a discredited mainstream explanation for why hybridization is a dead end
       5. proof in support of the theory that collared and pied flycatchers are separate species

7. 1. Questions 30–35 refer to the following passage.

   2. Rainbows have long been a part of religion and mythology in cultures around the globe, appearing as bridges between the heavens and the earth, as messages from the gods, or as weapons wielded by divine powers. Some cultures have viewed rainbows themselves as deities, or even as demonic beings from which to hide children. But in the early fourteenth century, Theodoric of Freiburg, a German friar, and Kamal al-Din al-Farisi, a Persian scientist, independently turned a scientific eye to the study of rainbows.
      Theodoric and al-Farisi were thousands of miles apart, but both had studied Ibn al- Haytham’s Book of Optics. Each concluded that a rainbow’s appearance is the result of sunlight refracting and reflecting through water droplets left after a rainfall. They conducted experiments to provide support for their conclusions, successfully re-creating the conditions necessary to make a rainbow appear; al-Farisi used a sphere and a camera obscura, while Theodoric used flasks and globes.
      Both scholars were, as modern physics has shown, correct in their assessments. When light hits a water droplet, the water causes the light’s speed to decrease. Furthermore, the light refracts—or changes direction—upon entering the droplet, and some of the light reflects off the back of the droplet, refracting again as it exits. The angle of refraction depends on the wavelength of the light; thus, refraction “breaks” white light into multiple wavelengths—a phenomenon called dispersion—which appear as different colors.
      But for a rainbow to fill the sky with color, more is needed. A single droplet of water will disperse the entire visible light spectrum, with each wavelength leaving at a different angle, but it alone cannot create a rainbow. Only a little of the light from a particular droplet reaches the eye of the human observer, striking the eye from a particular angle. For the observer to perceive the rainbow’s characteristic banded arc of different colors, a multitude of droplets suspended in the air, refracting and dispersing light, are needed, with the shorter wavelengths and shallower angles of indigo and violet appearing to the observer at the bottom and the longer wavelengths and steeper angles of red and orange appearing at the top.
   30. The author mentions the angle at which light leaves water droplets (lines 19–21) primarily in order to
       1. describe how refraction causes light to disperse as it leaves a water droplet
       2. show that indigo and violet appear at the bottom of rainbows because those colors have shallower angles
       3. illustrate that a change in the angle of light changes the wavelength of the light
       4. explain that the human eye perceives a rainbow only when light is refracted from multiple points
       5. introduce evidence that may help solve a long-standing mystery about the physics of refraction
   31. Based on the passage, it can be inferred that the rainbow’s middle colors of yellow, green, and blue 
       1. are not broken into separate bands by the dispersion of light leaving a droplet of water
       2. have longer wavelengths than do the red and orange light at the top of the rainbow
       3. have wavelengths that all strike the eye of a human observer at the same angle
       4. have wavelengths that are refracted at shallower angles than the wavelengths of indigo and violet light
       5. have wavelengths that are shorter than those of red and orange light and longer than those of indigo and violet light
   32. According to the passage, the refraction of light upon entering and leaving a water droplet
       1. changes the angle at which light leaves the water droplet, thereby altering the light’s wavelength
       2. causes the light to be reflected and thus intensify, becoming more visible to the human observer
       3. disperses white light, allowing it to be seen as its different component colors
       4. causes the light to slow and thus more readily disperse according to its different wavelengths
       5. alters the light’s wavelengths so they fall within the visible spectrum
   33. The primary purpose of the passage is to
       1. explain why rainbows are a relatively rare phenomenon
       2. describe religious and scientific explanations for the appearance of rainbows
       3. raise doubts about a historical explanation for the appearance of rainbows
       4. explore the reasons that the refraction of light causes it to appear as different colors
       5. examine the physics underlying the appearance of rainbows to the human observer
   34. It can be inferred that the author of the passage would most likely agree with which of the following statements about the study of rainbows?
       1. Scientific experiments performed hundreds of years ago sometimes provided accurate results.
       2. Cultures that associate rainbows with divinity do not approve of scientific inquiry into the nature of rainbows.
       3. The experiments of Theodoric and al-Farisi established that refraction of light occurs in water droplets but did not examine larger volumes of water.
       4. In societies in which the results of scientific studies of rainbows are widely accepted, rainbows are no longer associated with spiritual meaning.
       5. Studies such as Theodoric’s and al-Farisi’s now have no value because modern science has shown them to be simplistic.
   35. The primary function of the second paragraph is to
       1. discuss a challenge to the conception of rainbows as a religious symbol
       2. evaluate two historical methods for observing rainbows
       3. describe the difficulties early scholars overcame in their attempts to understand rainbows
       4. support the idea that medieval science is similar in value to modern science
       5. outline historical attempts to understand the scientific basis of rainbows