Directions: This section contains paragraphs followed by incomplete statements or questions. Read the paragraph and select the answer that best completes the statements or answers the questions that follow, and mark the corresponding oval on your answer sheet.
The character of Sherlock Holmes illustrates author Arthur Conan Doyle’s admiration for the logical mind. In each case that Holmes investigates, he is able to use the most seemingly insignificant evidence to track down his opponent. In fact, Holmes’s painstaking attention to detail often reminds the reader of Charles Darwin’s On the Origin of the Species, published some 20 years earlier.
The author compares Sherlock Holmes to Charles Darwin in order to
The climate of a major city is often very different from the climate of the surrounding areas. However, the geographic differences between the city and the country do not have to be dramatic to show major climatic differences. Even between the center of a city and its suburbs, there are often differences in air temperature, humidity, wind speed, and direction. Tall buildings, paved streets, and parking lots affect such patterns as wind flow and water runoff.
According to the passage, the relationship between cities and climate is
Marianne had seen it all on television—the Cuban Missile Crisis, man’s first steps on the Moon, the fall of the Berlin Wall, even the economic boom of the 1990s. So when she won the lottery and the news vans started gathering outside her house, it didn’t yet dawn on her just how much her life would be changed. A little attention doesn’t hurt you, she thought. But when she stepped outside to an army of eager young reporters, she began to wonder if there weren’t bigger events somewhere in need of coverage.
In the “Gunpowder Plot” of 1605, a group of conspirators planned to blow up the English king and Parliament. The conspirators were a group of English Catholics who objected to the government’s religious policies and who decided to carry out a daring assassination. They rented a cellar under the Palace of Westminster and hid 20 barrels of gunpowder there, intending to explode the gunpowder when the king and Parliament met. However, the conspirators were unable to keep the plot secret and their infamous plan was foiled.
The word infamous most nearly means
Just as Johnny hit yet another red light, his cell phone began to ring. He looked at his watch and saw that he was already 20 minutes late to what might be the most important meeting of his career. Reaching for his phone, he knocked over his drink, spilling piping hot coffee all over his lap. He screamed loudly in his car, and though it looked like no one could hear him, a woman nearby ran away from the edge of the car quickly.
Johnny’s attitude is
The presence or absence of water can have a dramatic effect on the plants in a given environment. The desert, for example, is a biologically complex area where rain is often violent and unpredictable. Since desert plants are dependent on the occasional rain for survival, they must act quickly to make the most of it when it appears. Many desert plants, as a result, can complete an entire life cycle in a matter of months or even weeks. The more barren a desert is, and thus the less rain, the rarer and more astounding these life cycles and the blooms that accompany them will be.
According to the passage, the life cycle of desert plants
It is a common belief among writers that great art is born from experience. However, some of the greatest writers in literary history have been people with a very limited knowledge of the world. Novelist Jane Austen, for example, didn’t venture far beyond her circle of family and friends. And yet, just by observing the people around her, she was able to write acclaimed comedies about love and marriage. Similarly, Robert Louis Stevenson, the author of classic adventures such as Treasure Island and Kidnapped, wrote many of his adventures without having similar experiences. Their achievements illustrate that if you have a good imagination, you can write a novel, no matter how unadventurous your life may seem.
Based on the information in the passage, some of the greatest writers
Tania is an extremely versatile actress. In a recent series of plays, she played a schoolteacher, two divorcees, three best friends, and a stepmother. She played a divorcee throughout the first play, but in subsequent plays she often played more than one part. Who would have suspected her acting prowess a few years ago when she ran crying off the stage with a terrible case of stage fright?
The word prowess most nearly means
Many people dream about living on a coral island, but probably few of us would be able to describe one with any accuracy. Popular books and films create a romantic image of these islands, but it is not always as nice if seen from the land. Beneath the waves, however, the coral island is a fantastic and very beautiful world, depending entirely upon a complex web of interrelationships between plants and animals. The environment of the coral reef is formed over thousands of years by the life cycle of vast numbers of animals.
One logical conclusion to draw from this passage is
Questions 10 and 11 both refer to the passage below.
Few of the immigrants of the period just before the turn of the century found life in America easy. Many of those who lacked professional skills and did not speak English found themselves living in slum conditions in the busy cities of the Northeast, exploited by their employers and trapped at poverty level. Around the turn of the century, a number of different organizations made efforts to help these newly arrived immigrants adapt to American life. While many groups emerged as leaders in these efforts to aid immigration, one organization preached a much colder answer to adapting to America.
A conservative group called the Daughters of the American Revolution approached immigrants with the expectation that newcomers should completely adopt American customs and culture. Consequently, they supported laws that required immigrants to take oaths of loyalty and to pass English language tests. They also tried to discourage the use of languages other than English in the schools.
Which of the following best tells what this passage is about?
The author implies that the Daughters of the American Revolution
Some animals use coloring to safeguard themselves from predators. In certain cases, an animal adapts in color, shape, and behavior in order to blend into its environment. The camouflage of the pale green tree frog is a good example of this. The tree frog blends so perfectly into its surroundings that when it sits motionless it is all but invisible against a background of leaves. Another type of camouflage, shown by zebras and leopards, is a pattern that diverts the eye from the outline of the animal. The chameleon, even more versatile than these, changes color in just a few minutes to match whatever surface it happens to be lying on or clinging to.
According to the passage, a reason that animals use camouflage is
Perhaps the biggest surprise of the Voyager mission was the discovery on the moons of Jupiter of intense volcanic activity. First seen on the moon Io, the eruptions were recognized as plumes of dust and gas and were immediately noticeable on the Voyager photographs. Further inspection revealed at least seven such events occurring all at once on Io’s otherwise frigid surface. At other points, scientists detected three hot spots believed to be ponds of molten lava, sulphur, or sodium. The largest of these hot lakes was estimated to have a greater surface area than the state of Hawaii.
What was the most unexpected fact to emerge from the Voyager photographs?
Questions 14 and 15 both refer to the passage below.
Most people think that the Hula Hoop was a fad born in the 1950s, but in fact people were doing much the same thing with circular hoops made from grapevines and stiff grasses all over the ancient world. More than 3,000 years ago, children in Egypt played with large hoops of dried grapevines. The toy was propelled along the ground with a stick or swung around at the waist. During the fourteenth century, a “hooping” craze swept England, and was equally popular among adults and children.
The word hula became associated with the toy in the early 1800s when British sailors visited the Hawaiian Islands and noted the similarity between hooping and hula dancing. In 1957, an Australian company began making wood rings for sale in retail stores. The item attracted the attention of Wham-O, a fledgling California toy manufacturer. The plastic Hula Hoop was introduced in 1958 and was an instant hit.
According to the passage, all of the following statements are true EXCEPT