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Section Three:
Reading Comprehension
Question
1-10
After
1785, the production of children's books in the Untied
States increased but
remained
largely reprints of British books, often those published by
John Newbery, the
first
publisher to produce books aimed primarily at diverting a
child audience. Ultimate]y,
Line
however, it was not the cheerful, commercial-minded Newhery,
but Anglo-Irish author
5
Maria Edgeworth who had the strongest influence on this
period of American children's
literature. The eighteenth century had seen a gradual shift
away from the spiritual intensity
of earlier
American religious writings for children, toward a more
generalized moralism.
Newbery
notwithstanding, Americans still looked on children's books
as vehicles for
instruction, not amusement, though they would accept a
moderate amount of fictional
10
entertainment for the sake of more successful instruction.
As the children's book market
expanded,
then, what both public and publishers wanted was the kind of
fiction Maria
Edgeworth
wrote: stories interesting enough to attract children and
morally instructive
enough to
allay adult distrust of fiction,
American reaction against imported books for children set in
after the War of 1812
15
with the British. A wave of nationalism permeated
everything,and the self-conscious new
nation
found foreign writings (particularly those from the British
monarchy) unsuitable for
the
children of a democratic republic, a slate of
self-governing, equal citizens. Publishers
of
children's books began to encourage American writers to
write for American children.
When they
responded, the pattern established by Maria Edgeworth was at
hand, attractive
20
to most of them for both its rationalism and its high moral
tone. Early in the 1820's,
stories of
willful children learning to obey, of careless children
learning to take care,
of selfish
children learning to "tire for others," started to flow from
American presses,
successfully achieving Edgeworth's tone, though rarely her
lively style. Imitative as
they were,
these early American stories wee quite distinguishable from
their British
25
counterparts. Few servants appeared in them, and if class
distinctions had by no means
disappeared, there was much democratic insistence on the
worthiness of every level of
birth and
work. The characters of children in this fiction were
serious, conscientious.
self-reflective, and independent-testimony to the continuing
influence of the earlier
American
moralistic tradition in children's books.
1. What does
the passage mainly 4. The word "they" in line 9
refers to
discuss?
(A) children
(A) The
career of Maria (B) Americans
Edgeworth as
an author (C) books
of
children's books (D) vehicles
(B) The
development of children's
literature in the United States 5. The word "allay" in
line 13
(C)
Successful publishers of is closest in meaning
to
children's books in Britain
and
North America (A)clarify
(B) attack
(D) Basic
differences between (C)reduce
British
and American (D) confirm
literature for children
2. The
publisher John Newbery is 6: It can be inferred
from the passage
principally known for which of the that American
children's books sold
following reasons? before 1785 were
almost always
(A) He
produced and sold books (A) written by Maria
Edgeworth
written by Maria Edgeworth. (B) attractive and
interesting to
(B) He
had more influence on children
American children's (C) written by American
authors
literature than any other (D) intended only for
religious and
publisher, moral instruction
(C) He
published books aimed
amusing children rather than
instructing them.
(D) He
was commercially minded
and cheerful.
3. The word
"notwithstanding" in
line 8 is
closest in meaning to
(A) in
spite of
(B) in
addition to
(C) as a
result of
(D) as a
part of
7. By the
end of the eighteenth 9. According to the
passage, American
century,
the publishers of children’s children's stories
differed from their
looks in
the United States were British equivalents in
that the
most
concerned about which of the characters in American
stories were
following?
(A) children who showed
a change
(A)
Attracting children with of behavior
entertaining stories that (B) children who were
well
provided lessons of correct behaved
behavior (C) rarely servants
(B)
Publishing literature consisting (D) generally not
from a variety
of
exciting stories that would of social classes
appeal
to both children and
adults 10. The word" testimony to" in
line 28
(C)
Expanding markets for books is closest in meaning
to
in
both Britain and the
United
States (A) inspiration for
(D)
Reprinting fictional books (B) evidence of
from
earlier in the century (C) requirement for
(D) development of
8. The word
"permeated" in line 15
(A)
opposed
(B)
improved
(C)
competed with
(D)
spread through
Question
11-21
Lichens. probably the hardiest of all plants, live where
virtually nothing else can---not
just on
rugged mountain peaks but also on sunbaked desert rocks.
They are usually the
first life
to appear on a mountainside that has been scraped bare by an
avalanche.
Line Unlike other members of
the plant kingdom, lichens are actually a partnership
between
5 two
plants. The framework of a lichen is usually a network of
minute hairlike fungus that
anchors
the plant, The other component is an alga (similar to the
green film of plant life
that grows
on stagnant pools) that is distributed throughout the
fungus. Being green plants,
algae are
capable of photosynthesis--that is, using energy from the
Sun to manufacture
their own
food. The fungi arc believed to supply water, minerals, and
physical support to
10 the
partnership.
Lichens are
famous for their ability to survive ~ water shortage. When
water is scarce
(as is
often the case on a mountain), lichens may become dormant
and remain in that
condition
for prolonged periods of time. Some lichens can even grow
where there is no
rain at
all, surviving on only occasional dew--the moisture that
condenses on the surface
15 of the
plants at night, And unlike most other plants, lichens are
little affected by the strong
ultraviolet rays in the mountains.
Lichens
use little energy, for they grow slowly. Some grow so slowly
and are so old
that they
are called "time stains." You may find lichens that are
centuries old; certain of
these
lichen colonies have been established for an estimated 2,000
years.
20 For
decades, scientists wondered how the offspring of an alga
and a fungus got together
to form a
new lichen, it seemed unlikely that they would just happen
lo encounter one
another.
It was finally discovered that in many cases the two
partners have never been
separated.
Stalklike "buds" that form on certain lichens are broken off
by the wind or by
animals;
these toll or are blown to a new location
11. Which of
the following questions 12. The word "hardiest" in
line I is
does the
passage answer? closest in meaning to
(A) Where
can the oldest lichens (A) most unusual
be
found? (B) most basic
(B) How
long does it take for (C) most abundant
lichens to establish (D) most vigorous
themselves?
(C) How
large can lichens he?
(D) Where
do lichens usually
occur?
13. The word
"framework" in line 5 is 18. All of the following are
mentioned
closest
in meaning to in the discussion of lichens
EXCEPT:
(A)
structure (A) They are capable of
producing
(a)
fragment their own food.
(C)
condition (B)They require large
amounts of
(D)environment minerals lo prosper.
(C)They are a union of
two
14, The
author mentions "the green film separate plants.
of
plant life that grows on stagnant (D) They can live
thousands of
pools"
(lines 6-7) in order to explain years.
(A) how
the sun affects lichens 19. What does the phrase
"lichen
(B) why
plants depend on water colonies (line 19)suggest?
(C)
where fungi become algae
(D)
what algae arc (A) Nothing but lichens
live in
some
locations.
15. It can
be inferred from the passage (B) Many lichens live
together in
that
lichens use less energy and one area.
grow more
slowly when (C) Lichens displace the
plants
that
surround them.
(A) the
environment is polluted (D)Certain groups of
lichens have
(B)
they are exposed to ultraviolet never been
separated.
rays
(C)
they are very old 20. The word "encounter" in
line 21 is
(D) the
supply of water is closest in meaning to
inadequate
(A) lose
16: Which of
file following terms is (B) support
defined
in the passage? (C) meet
(A)
"anchors" (line 6) (D) create
(B)
"stagnant" (line 7) 21. The word "these" in
line 24 refers to
(C)
"dew" (line 14.)
(D)
"ultraviolet" (line 16) (A)partners
(B) buds
17. The word
"prolonged" in line 13 is (C) lichens
closest
in meaning to (D) animals
(A)precise
(B)
extended
(C)
approximate
(D)regular
Question
22-31
The
languages spoken by early Europeans are still shrouded in
mystery. There is no
linguistic
continuity between the languages of Old Europe (a term
sometimes used for
Europe
between 7000 and 3000 B.C.) and the languages of the modem
world, and we
Line
cannot yet translate the Old European script, Scholars have
deciphered other ancient
5
languages, such as Sumerian, Akkadian, and Babylonian,
which used the cuneiform
script,
because of the fortuitous discovery of bilingual
inscriptions, When cuneiform
tablets
were first discovered in the eighteenth century, scholars
could not decipher them.
Then
inscriptions found in baa at the end of the eighteenth
century provided a link: these
inscriptions were written in cuneiform and in two other
ancient languages, Old Persian
10
and New Elamite--languages
that had already been deciphered. It took several decades,
but
scholars eventually translated the ancient cuneiform script
via the more familiar
Old
Persian language:
Similarly, the hieroglyphic writing of the Egyptians
remained a mystery until French
troops
unearthed the famous Rosetta stone in the late eighteenth
century. The stone carried
15
the same message written in ancient Greek, Egyptian
hieroglyphs, and Egyptian hieratic,
a
simplified form of hieroglyphs. The Rosetta stone thwarted
scholars' efforts for several
decades
until the early nineteenth century when several key
hieroglyphic phrases were
decoded
using the Greek inscriptions. Unfortunately, we have no Old
European Rosetta
stone to
chart correspondences between Old European script and the
languages that
20
replaced it.
Tim
incursions of Indo-European tribes into Old Europe from the
late fifth to the
early
third millennia B.C. caused a linguistic and cultural
discontinuity. These incursions
disrupted
the Old European sedentary farming lifestyle that had
existed for 3,000 years
As the
Indo-Europeans encroached on Old Europe from the east, the
continent underwent
25
upheavals. These severely
affected the Balkans, where the Old European cultures
abundantly
employed script. The Old European way of life deteriorated
rapidly, although
pockets of
Old European culture remained for several millennia, ~ new
peoples spoke
completely
different languages belonging to the Indo-European
linguistic family. The
Old
European language or languages, and the script used to write
them, declined and
eventually
vanished.
22. What
does the passage mainly 24, According to the
passage, scholars
discuss? were able to decipher
cuneiform
(A)
Reasons for the failure to script with the help
of
understand the written (A) the Sumerian, Akkadian,
records of Old European and Babylonian languages
culture (B) Old Persian.
(B)
Influences on the development (C) tablets written in
Old
of Old European script European
(C)
Similarities between (D) a language spoken in
Old European script and eighteenth century
Iran
other ancient writing systems
(D)
Events leading to the 25. The word “fortuitous”
in line 6
discovery of Old European is closet in meaning to
script (A) important
23.
According to the passage, New (B) sudden
Elamite
is (C) early
(D) lucky
(A) a
language that was written
in the cuneiform script 26. The word "them" in line
7 refers to
(B) a
modem language that
came from Old Persian (A) Sumerian, Akkadian,
and
(C) one
of the languages spoken Babylonian
by the Old Europeans (B) bilingual inscriptions
(D) a
language that was (C) cuneiform tablets
understood by the late (D) scholars
eighteenth century
27. When
does the passage suggest 29, The word "thwarted"
in line 16
that
ancient Egyptian hieroglypttic is closest in
meaning to
script
was finally deciphered?
(A) continued
(A) At
around the same time (B) influenced
as cuneiform script was (C) encouraged
deciphered (D) frustrated
(B)
Shortly before the Rosetta
stone was unearthed 30. According to the
passage,
(C) As
soon as additional Indo-European incursions
caused
bilingual inscriptions Old European populations
to
became available to
scholars (A) separate into different
tribes
(D) A
few decades after the (B) move eastward
hieratic script was decoded (C) change their ways of
living
obtaining
food
28.
According to the passage, which of (D) start
recording historical
the
following is true of the Rosetta events in
Writing
stone? 31. The author mentions
the Balkans
(A) It
was found by scholars in the passage in order
to explain
trying to decode ancient why
languages.
(B) It
contains two versions of (A) Indo-European
languages
hieroglyphic script. were slow to spread
in Old
(C)
Several of its inscriptions Europe
were decoded within a few (B) the inhabitants of Old
Europe
months of its discovery. were not able to
prevent
(D) Most
of its inscriptions have Indo-European
incursions
still not been decoded. (C) the use of the
Old European
script
declined
(D) the Old
European culture
survived for
a time after the
Indo-European incursions
Questions 32-40
Next to its sheer size, the profound isolation of its many
small islands is the most
distinctive feature of the Pacific Ocean. Over 25,000
islands are scattered across the
surface of
the Pacific, more than in all the other oceans combined, but
their land area
Line adds up to little more
than 125,000 square kilometers, about the size of New York
State,
5 and their
inhabitants total less than two million people, about a
quarter of the number that
live in
New York City. The oceanic islands of the Pacific are some
of the most isolated
places on
Earth. Many are uninhabitable, by virtue of their small size
and particular
characteristics, but even the most favored are very isolated
fragments of land, strictly
circumscribed by the ocean, strictly limited in terms of the
numbers of people they can
10 support.
This basic fact of environmental circumstance has been the
most pervasive
influence
in determining the social arrangements, and cultural
practices of the people that
settled in
the Pacific Islands.
The
peopling of the Pacific Islands has been described as the
greatest feat of maritime
colonization in human history. Contrary to the conclusions
of Thor Heyerdahl's Kon-Tiki
15
expedition of 1946, the evidence of plant dispersal,
archaeology, linguistics, and genetics
now shows
quite conclusively that the Pacific Islands were not
populated from tile east by
South
Americans who drifted on balsa-wood rafts and the prevailing
wind and current, but
from the
west, by groups from mainland Asia who gradually spread from
island to island
out into
the Pacific. The process began over 40,000 years ago and
reached Easter Island
20 the most
isolated place on Earth-about 1.500 years ago. It ended
about 1,000 years ago,
when
people first settled in Hawaii and New Zealand.
Simply
surviving those ocean crossings of indeterminate length, in
open canoes, to
arrive on
the shores of uninhabited and hitherto unknown islands, was
a formidable
achievement. But having found an oasis of land in a watery
wilderness, crossed its reef,
25 and
landed, on its shores, the survivors then faced a series of
pressing problems for which
solutions
had to be found quickly if the small group was to become a
vigorous, self-
sustaining
island population.
32. The
word "scattered" in line 2 is 33. Why does the author
mention New
closest
in meaning to York City in line 6 ?
(A)
widely known (A) To emphasize how small
the
(B)
usually estimated population of the
Pacific
(C)
rarely inhabited Islands is
(D)
irregularly distributed (B) To emphasize the
extreme
distances
between the Pacific
Islands and
other regions
(C) To note the
economic ties of
the Pacific
Islands to other
regions
(D) To note the
lack of urban
environments
on the Pacific
Islands
34.The
phrase "by virtue or" in line 7 is 38.The word "It' in
line 20 refers to
closest
in meaning to (A) Pacific
(A)
regarding (B) process
(B)
because of (C) isolated place
(C)
taking advantage of (D) Earth
(D) in
place of
39. The word
"indeterminate" in line 22
35. The word
"circumscribed" in line 9 is closest in meaning to
is
closest in meaning to (A) undecided
(A)
located (B) uncertain
(B)
flooded (C) unacceptable
(C)
restricted (D) increasing
(D)
pushed
40. The passage is most
likely followed
36. Which of
the following is NOT by a discussion of
mentioned as, evidence used to
determine Iht origins of Pacific (A) how settlers
adapted to newly
discovered
Pacific Ocean
Islands
people? Islands
(A)
Oral histories (B) the design and
construction of
(B)
Plant dispersal canoes used in the
Pacific
(C)
Linguistics Islands
(D)
Archaeology (C) the characteristics sties
of reefs in
the Pacific
Islands
37.
According to the-passage where (D) how early
explorers of the
did the
original inhabitants of the Pacific Ocean found
their
Pacific
Islands come from? way from island to
island
(A)
South America
(B)
Hawaii
(C) New
Zealand
(D)
Asia
Questions 41-50
The
atmosphere that originally surrounded Earth was probably
much different from
the air we
breathe today. Earth's first atmosphere (some 4.6 billion
years ago) was most
likely
hy~ogen and helium--.the two most abundant gasses found in
the universe--as
Line
well as hydrogen compounds, such as methane and ammonia,
Most scientists feel that
5
this early atmosphere escaped into space from the Earth's
hot surface.
A
second, more dense atmosphere, however, gradually enveloped
Earth as gasses
from molten
rocks within its hot interior escaped through volcanoes and
steam vents.
We assume
that volcanoes spewed out the same gasses then as they do
today: mostly
water vapor
(about g0 percent), carbon dioxide (about ten percent), and
up to a few
10
percent nitrogen. These same gasses probably created Earth's
second atmosphere.
As
millions of years passed, the constant outpouring of gasses
from the hot
interior--known as outgassing--provided a rich
supply of water vapor, which formed
into
clouds. Rain fell upon Earth for many thousands or years,
forming the rivers,
lakes, and
oceans of the world. During this Lime, large amounts of
carbon dioxide were
15 dissolved in the
oceans. Through chemical and biological processes, much of
the carbon
dioxide
became locked up in carbon sedimentary rocks, such as
limestone. With much
of the
water vapor already condensed into water and the
concentration of carbon dioxide
dwindling,
the atmosphere gradually became rich nitrogen.
It
appears that oxygen, the second most abundant gas in today's
atmosphere, probably
20
began an extremely slow increase in concentration as
energetic rays from the sun split
water vapor
into hydrogen and oxygen during a process called
photodissociation. The
hydrogen,
being lighter, probably rose and escaped into space, while
the oxygen remained
in the
atmosphere.
This
slow increase in oxygen may have provided enough of this gas
for primitive
25 plants to
evolve, perhaps two to three billion years ago. Or the
plants may have evolved
in an almost
oxygen-free (anaerobic) environment. At any rate, plant
growth greatly
enriched our
atmosphere with oxygen. The reason for this enrichment is
that plants, in
the presence
of sunlight, process carbon dioxide and water to produce
oxygen.
41. What is
the main idea of the 42. The word "enveloped" in
line 6
passage? is closest in meaning
to
(A) The
original atmosphere (A) surrounded
on
Earth was unstable. (B) changed
(B) The
atmosphere on Earth (C) escaped
has
changed over time. (D) characterized
(C) Hot
underground gasses
created clouds, which 43. The word "they' in line
8 refers to
formed
the Earth's
atmosphere. (A) gasses
(D) Plant
growth depended on (B) volcanoes
oxygen
in the Earth's (C) steam vents
atmosphere. (D) rocks
44.
According to the passage. 48. The phase “At any
rate ”in line 26
outgassing eventually led to all is closest in
meaning to
of the
following EXCEPT (A) regardless
(A)
increases in the carbon dioxide (B) in addition
content of sedimentary rocks (C) although unlikely
(B) the
formation of bodies of (D) fortunately
water
(C)
decreases in the level of 49. The author organizes
the discussion
nitrogen of the Earth's atmosphere in
terms
(D) the
formation of clouds of the
45. The word
"gradually" in line 18 (A) role of volcanoes in
its
is
closest in meaning to formation
(A)
accidentally (B) occur in which
changes
occurred
(B)
quickly (C) time it took for the
Earth's
(C) in
the end surface: to cool and
nitrogen
(D) by
degrees to appear
(D) chemical and
physical features
46. The
passage suggests that oxygen of gasses
remained
in the atmosphere because
50. Which of the
following does the
(A) it
was caused by outgassing passage mention as necessary
for
(B) it
was heavier than hydrogen both the production of
oxygen by
(C)
hydrogen became trapped in photodissociation and the
limestone production of oxygen by plants?
(D)
rays from the sun created
equal amounts of hydrogen (A) Water:
and oxygen (B) Hydrogen
(C) Carbon dioxide
47. The
author uses the word "Or" in (D) Nitrogen
line 25
to
(A)
criticize the previous
suggestion
(B)
provide unrelated information
(C)
propose a similar idea
(D)suggest
an alternative
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