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Title: Reading Comprehension for GRE
Description: Reading Comprehension: Nearly 500 RCs are there. if you go through you can defnitely succeed.

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VOCABULARY

501
READING
COMPREHENSION
QUESTIONS

501
READING
COMPREHENSION
QUESTIONS

3rd Edition

®

NEW

YORK

Copyright © 2006 Learning Express, LLC
...

Published in the United States by LearningExpress, LLC, New York
...

p
...

ISBN 1-57685-540-6
1
...
I
...

II
...

III
...

LB1050
...
A15 2006
372
...
learnatest
...
Read on to ﬁnd out why
...
If so,
that’s ﬁne
...

But maybe you’re one of the millions of people who have trouble with reading, especially with reading carefully while reading quickly
...

First, know that you’re not alone
...
Still, no other general skill is used more regularly—in work, play, and just plain living—than reading
...
This book will help, but something else will help even more: If you’re serious about developing your reading comprehension skills, go to the
library or a bookstore and pick out books on subjects you ﬁnd fascinating
...
The subject will undoubtedly draw you
in because you are already interested
...
You will ﬁnd that as you focus on the subject matter, you will
already know some of the information
...
Eventually, your store of information becomes quite admirable
...
As you do, you will improve your reading comprehension skills, and it won’t even
seem like a chore
...
501 Reading Comprehension
Questions, 3rd Edition begins with vocabulary because
that’s what you need to read—the essential building
blocks
...
Next,
the analogy questions take you a step further
...
Just in
case you’re wondering why this is important, you
should know that the skills you develop from these
short exercises in word play will assist you when you are
reading longer passages
...
Once you are comfortable with these
basic skills, proceed to the passages in the last ﬁve sections
...

The last ﬁve sections begin with one- to twoparagraph passages
...
The passages, both fiction and nonfiction, get
longer as you progress through the book, and they all
have varied subjects
...
You will even ﬁnd some charts and graphs
...
This technique of interacting
with the text is good to use anytime you read or when
you take a test that includes reading comprehension
...
Each answer is fully explained, so if you have
trouble with a particular question, you will be able to
ﬁgure out how to arrive at the correct answer
...
When it comes to perfecting your reading comprehension, don’t ignore any of the other language
skills
...

In any case, the more you use the language and understand the building blocks, the easier and faster you will
breeze through those reading comprehension passages
that you ﬁnd on most tests
...
Since everyone reads differently, the
number of words or pages you can cover in a given time
period may be more or less than one section of this
book
...
Just spend 20 minutes—more or
less—reading the material and going through the exercises
...
It’s important that you’re practicing, and
chances are that your speed will improve as you go
through the book
...

Then, know your learning style
...
Do you need to take notes to
remember facts and details? Have a pen, pencil, highlighter, and notebook ready
...

viii

– INTRODUCTION –

Tutoring Others

Detective/Thriller

501 Reading Comprehension Questions, 3rd Edition will
work well in combination with almost any basic reading or English text
...
), and then have
them spend the remainder of the class or session reading the passages and answering the questions
...

Stress the importance of learning by doing
...

Let them know that reading is enjoyable, and they may
just use you as a role model!

Agatha Christie’s murder mysteries
The “A is for…” series by Sue Grafton
The Client by John Grisham
Sherlock Holmes by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle
The Shining by Stephen King
Watcher by Dean R
...
R
...
Tolkien
On a Pale Horse by Piers Anthony
Any Harry Potter book by J
...
Rowling
Historical/Social Issues

The Clan of the Cave Bear by Jean M
...
Reading about reading and
answering test questions is ﬁne, but the best way to
improve your reading ability is to read
...
Help yourself
...

Autobiography/Memoir

Angela’s Ashes by Frank McCourt
Autobiography of Malcolm X by Malcolm X
Black Boy by Richard Wright
The Diary of Anne Frank by Anne Frank
Having Our Say by Sarah L
...
D
...
Levitt
and Stephen J
...
Henry
Girls at War by Chinua Achebe
Interpreter of Maladies by Jhumpa Lahiri
The Stories of Eva Luna by Isabel Allende
Ten Top Stories edited by David A
...
Using a dictionary is, of course, the best way to deﬁne a word
...

The term context clues means that other words in the sentence “give away” or give clues to the deﬁnition
...
Once in a while, you will ﬁnd a
group of words set off by commas (called an appositive), which gives you a very clear deﬁnition of the word
...
His neighbor’s superﬁcial remarks trivialized the
property line dispute and infuriated Malcolm
...
enraged
b
...
insulting
d
...

Read the following sentences and try to choose the
best deﬁnition for the italicized word by searching for
context clues in the sentence
...
The designer window treatments in her house,
installed 17 years ago, were outmoded
...
unnecessary
b
...
out-of-date
d
...
When Katya refused to lie to her parents about
where she was spending the night, she was completely ostracized by her usually loyal friends,
who had never shunned her before
...
excluded
b
...
cheered
d
...
Although the professor’s lectures were regarded
by many as so wearisome that they regularly put
students to sleep, he ignored all criticism and
refused to make any changes
...
modest
b
...
boring
d
...
Her fashion sense was usually described as ﬂamboyant, but on the night of the party, Tanya’s outﬁt was uncharacteristically modest
...
impeccable
b
...
sloppy
d
...
The baseball player’s malice toward the referee
was revealed in his spiteful remarks to the media,
which almost ruined the referee’s career
...
vindictive
b
...
rude
d
...
Mr
...

a
...
naïve
c
...
critical

4
...

a
...
reluctantly
c
...
stubbornly

9
...

a
...
optional
c
...
advisable

2

– VOCABULARY –

15
...

a
...
retract
c
...
expand

10
...

a
...
excited
c
...
ambivalent
11
...

a
...
inspiring
c
...
unclear

16
...

a
...
bothered
c
...
ﬂooded

12
...

a
...
courteous
c
...
lively

17
...

a
...
admirable
c
...
remarkable

13
...

a
...
periodic
c
...
light

18
...

a
...
outraged
c
...
disbelieving

14
...

a
...
dismissive
c
...
elaborate

19
...
Long because she was proﬁcient in the use
of computers
...
sincere
b
...
competent
d
...
The suspect gave a plausible explanation for his
presence at the scene, so the police decided to
look elsewhere for the perpetrator of the crime
...
unbelievable
b
...
insufﬁcient
d
...
Even under tremendous public pressure, the planning committee would not commit itself wholeheartedly to the proposal and gave only tentative
approval to the waterfront development plan
...
provisional
b
...
unnecessary
d
...
He based his conclusion on what he inferred
from the evidence, not on what he actually
observed
...
predicted
b
...
surmised
d
...
Regarding the need for more free refreshments,
the group’s opinion was enthusiastic and
unanimous
...
divided
b
...
adamant
d
...
The neighborhood-watch group presented its
ultimatum at the town board meeting: Repave
the streets or prepare for protests
...
earnest plea
b
...
solemn promise
d
...
Since the townspeople were so dissatisﬁed,
various methods to alleviate the situation
were debated
...
ease
b
...
clarify
d
...
The editor of the newspaper needed to be sure
the article presented the right information, so his
review was meticulous
...
delicate
b
...
superﬁcial
d
...
The assistant was fast becoming an indispensable
member of the department, so they had no
choice but to offer him a higher salary to stay on
...
determined
b
...
essential
d
...
The general public didn’t care about the trial and
was apathetic about the verdict
...
enraged
b
...
suspicious
d
...
The attorney wanted to expedite the process,
because her client was becoming impatient
...
accelerate
b
...
reverse
d
...
The attorneys were now certain they could not
win the case, because the ruling had proved to be
so detrimental to their argument
...
decisive
b
...
worthless
d
...
The doctors were pleased that their theory had
been fortiﬁed by the new research
...
reinforced
b
...
disputed
d
...
The captain often delegated responsibility to his
subordinates, so as to have time to do the important tasks himself
...
analyzed
b
...
criticized
d
...
My brother drives us crazy by crooning in the
shower
...
hooting
b
...
crying
d
...
The emotional fallout from a natural disaster can
adversely affect the residents in a community for
years
...
conﬂict
b
...
relationship
d
...
The news about toxic waste dumping aroused the
anger of the many listeners of a news broadcast
...
informed
b
...
provoked
d
...
The spokesperson must articulate the philosophy
of an entire company so that outsiders can
understand it completely
...
trust
b
...
verify
d
...
The air in the rainforest was humid, making the
heat seem even more smothering than before
...
hot
b
...
hazy
d
...
The new shipping and receiving building is an
expansive facility, large enough to meet our
growing needs
...
obsolete
b
...
spacious
d
...
The balloon, loose from its string, rose up into
the sky, a shiny purple sphere
...
circle
b
...
ovoid
d
...
I wrote in my journal every day, hoping in the
future to author a book about my trip to Paris
...
notebook
b
...
diary
d
...
After the storm caused raw sewage to seep into
the ground water, the Water Department had to
take measures to decontaminate the city’s water
supply
...
reﬁne
b
...
freshen
d
...
The thief jostled me in a crowd and was thus able
to pick my pocket
...
mugged
b
...
assailed
d
...
The mayor tailored his speech to suit the crowd
of homeless people gathered outside his ofﬁce
...
intoned
b
...
altered
d
...
While we traveled in Italy, we stayed in an inexpensive hostel
...
inn
b
...
home
d
...
The volcano lays dormant now, but we feel sure it
will erupt again within the year
...
inactive
b
...
elevated
d
...
My friend asked me to lie for her, but that is
against my philosophy
...
principles
b
...
personality
d
...
Because of his disregard for the king’s laws, the
prince was punished by being banished from the
kingdom
...
apart
b
...
exiled
d
...
I relinquished my place in line to go back and talk
with my friend Diane
...
defended
b
...
delayed
d
...

Choose the best vocabulary word for questions 49–51
...
We had no idea who the special guest speaker
would be, because the organizers of the event
were so _____________________
...
animated
b
...
talented
d
...
For example, the “fear grimace,” although
it looks ferocious, is actually given by a
__________ monkey who is intimidated by a
__________ member of the group
...
When Carson suddenly quit his job, he didn’t
even __________ how difﬁcult it might be to
ﬁnd a new one
...
endorse
b
...
consider
d
...
What is the meaning of the underlined word grimace as it is used in the passage?
a
...
contortion
c
...
simper
53
...
calm
...
dominant
...
conﬁdent
...
subordinate
...
Maggie was the most talented tennis player at her
school, even though she’d never had the
___________________ to take formal lessons
...
opportunity
b
...
arrogance
d
...

Questions 57, 58, and 59 are based on the following
paragraph
...

The Sami are an indigenous people living in the
northern parts of Norway, Sweden, Finland, and
Russia’s Kola peninsula
...

Therefore, one was expected to move quietly in
the wilderness and avoid making a disturbance
out of courtesy to these spirits
...
Because the
Sami were not warriors and did not believe in war,
they simply disappeared in times of conﬂict
...
”

54
...
fragments
b
...
bacteria
d
...
The underlined word atrophy, as used in the
paragraph, most nearly means
a
...

b
...

c
...

d
...

57
...
admiring
b
...
contemptuous
d
...

58
...
the irrational belief in supernatural beings
...
the belief that animals and plants have souls
...
the belief that animals are gods
...
the primitive belief that people can be reincarnated as animals
...

Robin, with her brightly colored clothing and
unusual hairstyles, was considered quite eccentric
...
What is the meaning of the underlined word
eccentric as it is used in the sentence?
a
...
joyful
c
...
proud

59
...
timidity
b
...
respect
d
...
” In each of the questions contained in this section, you will ﬁnd a pair of related words
...
For example, what
is the connection between the words ﬁsh and scales? Obviously, a ﬁsh is covered with scales; now think of two other
words that share a similar relationship
...
The similarity between
these two unrelated pairs of words is an analogy
...
A ﬁsh is covered with scales, as a bird is covered with feathers
...
FOOT : SKATEBOARD
a
...
lace : shoe
c
...
walk : jump
e
...

See how many of the following questions you can
answer correctly
...
PETAL : FLOWER
a
...
leaf : tree
c
...
material : fabric
e
...
STRETCH : EXTEND
a
...
thirsty : drink
c
...
stroll : run
e
...
SHELF : BOOKCASE
a
...
stage : curtain
c
...
key : piano
e
...
KANGAROO : MARSUPIAL
a
...
zebra : horse
c
...
beagle : feline
e
...
FISH : SCHOOL
a
...
tiger : jungle
c
...
raven : school
e
...
STARVING : HUNGRY
a
...
towering : cringing
c
...
happy : crying
e
...
SCALE : WEIGHT
a
...
width : depth
c
...
size : area
e
...
DERMATOLOGIST : ACNE
a
...
child : pediatrician
c
...
oncologist : measles
e
...
WATERMELON : FRUIT
a
...
dog : companion
c
...
Dalmatian : canine
e
...
FRAME : PICTURE
a
...
shelf : refrigerator
c
...
nail : hammer
e
...
SEARCH : FIND
a
...
explore : discover
c
...
think : relate
e
...
RUN: JOG
a
...
swim : dive
c
...
juggle : bounce
e
...
PHARMACY : DRUGS
a
...
doctor : medicine
c
...
supermarket : discount store
e
...
SKEIN : YARN
a
...
ﬁre : coal
c
...
tree : lumber
e
...
LAYER : TIER
a
...
dais : speaker
c
...
chapter : verse
e
...
TAILOR : SUIT
a
...
edit : manuscript
c
...
mention : opinion
e
...
METROPOLITAN : URBAN
a
...
sleepy : nocturnal
c
...
autumn : harvest
e
...
CONDUCTOR : ORCHESTRA
a
...
thrasher : hay
c
...
skipper : crew
e
...
TEACHER : SCHOOL
a
...
mechanic : engine
c
...
judge : courthouse
e
...
JAUNDICE : LIVER
a
...
dialysis : kidney
c
...
valentine : heart
e
...
PERSIAN : CAT
a
...
zebra : reptile
c
...
rat : marsupial
e
...
COBBLER : SHOE
a
...
contractor : building
c
...
cowboy : boot
e
...
PHOBIC : FEARFUL
a
...
cautious : emotional
c
...
shy : familiar
e
...
CONVICTION : INCARCERATION
a
...
induction : amelioration
c
...
marginalization : intimidation
e
...
INTEREST : OBSESSION
a
...
weeping : sadness
c
...
plan : negation
e
...
DELTOID : MUSCLE
a
...
brain : nerve
c
...
blood : vein
e
...
MONK : DEVOTION
a
...
explorer : contentment
c
...
rover : wanderlust
e
...
UMBRAGE : OFFENSE
a
...
inﬁnity : meaning
c
...
elation : jubilance
e
...
SLAPSTICK : LAUGHTER
a
...
genre : mystery
c
...
mimicry : tears
e
...
PROFESSOR : ERUDITE
a
...
inventor : imaginative
c
...
overseer : wealthy
e
...
VERVE : ENTHUSIASM
a
...
devotion : reverence
c
...
eminence : anonymity
e
...
DEPENDABLE : CAPRICIOUS
a
...
erasable : obtuse
c
...
capable : inept
e
...
SOUND : CACOPHONY
a
...
touch : massage
c
...
sight : panorama
e
...
FROND : PALM
a
...
blade : evergreen
c
...
tusk : alligator
e
...
METAPHOR : SYMBOL
a
...
rhythm : melody
c
...
slang : usage
e
...
SPY : CLANDESTINE
a
...
furrier : rambunctious
c
...
shepherd : garrulous
e
...
DIRGE : FUNERAL
a
...
bell : church
c
...
jingle : commercial
e
...
DOMINANCE : HEGEMONY
a
...
furtherance : melancholy
c
...
tolerance : philanthropy
e
...
AERIE : EAGLE
a
...
bridge : architect
c
...
kennel : veterinarian
e
...
FERAL : TAME
a
...
repetitive : recurrent
c
...
repentant : honorable
e
...
It is, however, easy to confuse the main idea or theme with the subject
...
However, when you look past the facts and information to the heart of what writers are trying to say, and why they are saying it, that’s the main idea or theme
...

15

– MAIN IDEAS, THEMES –

One New York publisher has estimated that
50,000 to 60,000 people in the United States want
an anthology that includes the complete works of
William Shakespeare
...

The answers to this section begin on page 134
...
The best way to
approach these questions is to ﬁrst read the paragraph
and then, in your own words, restate what you think the
author is trying to say
...

102
...
Shakespeare’s characters are more interesting than ﬁctional characters today
...
people today are interested in Shakespeare’s
work because of the characters
...
academic scholars are putting together an
anthology of Shakespeare’s work
...
New Yorkers have a renewed interested in
the work of Shakespeare
...
Shakespeare was a psychiatrist as well as a
playwright
...
Your neighborhood
can be your health club
...
All
you need is a well-designed pair of athletic shoes
...
This paragraph best supports the statement that
a
...

b
...

c
...

d
...

e
...

Critical reading is a demanding process
...
Mark up the text with your reactions,
conclusions, and questions
...

103
...
critical reading is a slow, dull, but essential
process
...
the best critical reading happens at critical
times in a person’s life
...
readers should get in the habit of questioning the truth of what they read
...
critical reading requires thoughtful and
careful attention
...
critical reading should take place at the
same time each day
...
Mathematics tells us about economic trends,
patterns of disease, and the growth of populations
...
Figures have the power to mislead people
...
Studies have shown that toxic insecticides that have been banned in many countries
are riding the wind from countries where they
remain legal
...

106
...
the study of mathematics is dangerous
...
words are more truthful than ﬁgures
...
the study of mathematics is more important than other disciplines
...
the power of numbers is that they cannot lie
...
figures are sometimes used to deceive people
...
This paragraph best supports the statement that
a
...

b
...

c
...

d
...

e
...

Human technology developed from the ﬁrst stone
tools about two and a half million years ago
...

Hundreds of thousands of years passed without
much change
...

The Fourth Amendment to the Constitution
protects citizens against unreasonable searches
and seizures
...

This means that a neutral judge must approve
the factual basis justifying a search before it can be
conducted
...
This paragraph best supports the statement that
a
...

b
...

c
...

d
...

e
...

105
...
legal authorization
...
direct evidence of a crime
...
read the person his or her constitutional
rights
...
a reasonable belief that a crime has
occurred
...
requested that a judge be present
...
Though the ﬁrst-person
point of view may make the reader feel close to
the writer, it also implies a certain subjectivity
...

Today’s postal service is more efﬁcient than ever
...
If your letter or
package is urgent, the U
...
Postal Service offers
Priority Mail and Express Mail services
...
Express Mail will get
your package there overnight
...
This paragraph best supports the statement
that
a
...

b
...

c
...

d
...

e
...

108
...
more people use the post ofﬁce for urgent
deliveries than any other delivery service
...
Express Mail is a good way to send urgent
mail
...
Priority Mail usually takes two days or less
...
mail service today is more effective and
dependable
...
mail was once delivered by horse and foot
...
As Reality TV
increases in popularity, network executives will
begin canceling more traditional programs and
replacing them with the latest in Reality TV
...
This paragraph best supports the statement
that
a
...

b
...

c
...

d
...

e
...

18

S E C T I O N

4

Topic Sentences

I

n the last section, you learned what a main idea is
...
Topic sentences are usually found at the beginning of a paragraph in order to immediately establish the main idea
...
Still, looking for the
topic sentence is a good skill to have when ferreting out the meaning of a reading passage
...
It weighs less than three pounds and is hardly
more interesting to look at than an overly ripe
cauliﬂower
...

It has created poetry and music, planned and
executed horriﬁc wars, and devised intricate
scientiﬁc theories
...

a
...

b
...

c
...

d
...

For the following three questions, choose the topic
sentence that best ﬁts the paragraph
...
The term spices is a pleasant one, whether it
connotes ﬁne French cuisine or a down-home,
cinnamon-ﬂavored apple pie
...

In the past, individuals traveled the world seeking exotic spices for proﬁt and, in searching,
have changed the course of history
...

a
...

b
...

c
...
The history of spices, however, is another
matter altogether, and at times, it can be
ﬁlled with danger and intrigue
...
Try
choosing the sentence that best develops or supports it
...
Gary is a distinguished looking man with a
touch of gray at the temples
...
He enjoys spending
most of his time admiring his proﬁle in the
mirror
...
The ﬁrst,
however, is money
...

__________
...
He could buy whatever he
desires, whether that be people, places, or
things
...

a
...

b
...

c
...

d
...

114
...

a
...

b
...

c
...

d
...

115
...
S
...

a
...

b
...

c
...

d
...

21

– TOPIC SENTENCES –

118
...

a
...

b
...

c
...

d
...

116
...

a
...

b
...

c
...

d
...

117
...

a
...

b
...

c
...

d
...

119
...

a
...

b
...

c
...

d
...

22

– TOPIC SENTENCES –

120
...

a
...

b
...

c
...

d
...

123
...

a
...

b
...

c
...

d
...

121
...

a
...

b
...

c
...

d
...

124
...

a
...

b
...

c
...
It is illegal to parade an elephant down
Main Street in Austin, Texas
...
The hairs themselves are very sensitive
...
A cat’s whiskers are among the most perfect
organs of touch
...
The roots contain highly sensitive nerve
endings
...
Serving as feelers, they aid the cat’s ability
to move in the dark
...
This is most important for a cat that does
its prowling at night
...
The Puritans established a wide variety of
punishments to enforce their strict laws
...
The Puritans believed that some lawbreakers should be shamed in public by the use
of stocks and the pillory
...
Disobedient children would feel the sting of
the whip
...
The Eighth Amendment of the Bill of Rights
prohibits cruel and unusual punishment
...
Today, many of the punishments used by
the Puritans seem cruel and excessive
...

126
...

a
...
D
...

b
...

c
...

d
...

129
...

a
...

b
...

c
...

d
...

127
...

a
...

b
...

c
...

d
...

130
...

a
...

b
...

c
...

d
...

128
...

a
...

b
...

c
...

d
...

24

S E C T I O N

5

Short Passages

I

n this section, you will ﬁnd short (one and two paragraph) passages, accompanied by questions that ask you
to identify explicit information, analyze, and interpret what is written
...
Pay special attention to the details and the facts, and make a habit of trying to
identify the author’s main idea; also, try to think of the author’s motive for writing the passage
...
The more active a reader you are, the more likely
that you will understand and fully enjoy what you read
...

The most important part of any DTP project is
planning
...

The answers to this section begin on page 137
...
To infer means to
arrive at a conclusion by reasoning from evidence
...
If
you are told to infer something from a passage, you are
basically being asked what conclusions can be drawn
from the content of the story
...

132
...
Desktop Publishing is one way to become
acquainted with a new business audience
...
computer software is continually being
reﬁned to produce high-quality printing
...
the ﬁrst stage of any proposed DTP project
should be organization and design
...
the planning stage of any DTP project should
include talking with the intended audience
...
Frequently
in local elections, journalists are not giving voters
enough information to understand the issues and
evaluate the candidates
...

131
...
is not doing an adequate job when it comes
to covering local campaigns
...
does not understand either campaign issues
or politics
...
should learn how to cover politics by
watching the national news media
...
has no interest in covering stories about
local political events
...
Some experts
even feel that the low-carb/low-fat debate distracts us from an even more important issue—our
culture’s reliance on processed and manufactured foods
...
The paragraph best supports the statement that
a
...

b
...

c
...

d
...

26

– SHORT PASSAGES –

One of the missions of the Peace Corps is to help
the people of interested countries meet their need
for trained men and women
...

Every year, Americans use over one billion sharp
objects to administer healthcare in their homes
...
If not disposed of in puncture-resistant
containers, they can injure sanitation workers
...
The
containers should be clearly marked and be
puncture resistant
...
The paragraph best supports the statement
that Peace Corps employees
a
...

b
...

c
...

d
...

134
...
do not place sharp objects in punctureresistant containers
...
come in contact with sharp objects that
have not been placed in secure containers
...
are careless with sharp objects such as
lancets, needles, and syringes in their homes
...
do not mark the containers they pick up
with a warning that those containers contain sharp objects
...
The upside of tele-commuting is both greater productivity and greater
ﬂexibility
...

Litigation is not always the only or best way to
resolve conﬂicts
...
Mediation can be faster, less
expensive, and can lead to creative solutions not
always possible in a court of law
...

137
...
get more work done in a given time period
than workers who travel to the ofﬁce
...
produce a better quality work product than
workers who travel to the ofﬁce
...
are more ﬂexible in their ideas than workers
who travel to the ofﬁce
...
would do 20% more work if they were to
work in an ofﬁce
...
This paragraph best supports the idea that
a
...

b
...

c
...

d
...

27

– SHORT PASSAGES –

Daffodil bulbs require well-drained soil and
a sunny planting location
...
The
bulb should be placed in the hole, pointed side
up, root side down
...

Sushi, the thousand-year-old Japanese delicacy,
started small in the United States, in a handful of
restaurants in big cities
...
Sushi is also
sold at concession stands in sports stadiums, university dining halls, and in supermarkets throughout the country
...
According to the above directions, when
planting daffodil bulbs, which of the following
conditions is not necessary?
a
...
well-drained soil
c
...
proper fertilization

138
...
sushi is now a fast food as popular as hot
dogs, burgers, and fries
...
more sushi is sold in restaurants than in
supermarkets
...
Americans are more adventurous eaters
than they were in the past
...
sushi wasn’t always widely available in the
United States
...
According to the above directions, which of
the following is true?
a
...

b
...

c
...

d
...

Today’s shopping mall has as its antecedents historical marketplaces, such as Greek agoras, European piazzas, and Asian bazaars
...
People not only go to buy and
sell wares, but also to be seen, catch up on news,
and be part of the human drama
...
Additional recycling containers may be purchased
from the City
...
The paragraph best supports the statement that
a
...

b
...

c
...

d
...

142
...
may only use one recycling container
...
must use the new recycling container
...
should use the new recycling container
...
must buy a new recycling container
...
Hiring has to be based solely on
a candidate’s knowledge, skills, and abilities
(which you’ll sometimes see abbreviated as ksa),
and not on external factors such as race, religion,
sex, and so on
...

143
...
The new containers are far better than
other containers in every way
...
The new containers will help increase the
efﬁciency of the recycling program
...
The new containers hold more than the old
containers did
...
The new containers are less expensive than
the old containers
...
It features eggplant, zucchini, tomatoes, peppers, and garlic; chopped,
mixed, sautéed, and ﬁnally, cooked slowly over
low heat
...
The name ratatouille comes
from the French word touiller, meaning to stir or
mix together
...
The paragraph best supports the statement that
a
...

b
...

c
...

d
...

144
...
chop vegetables, add tomato paste, stir or
mix together
b
...
cook the vegetables slowly, mix them
together, add tomato paste
d
...
The federal government’s practice of hiring on
the basis of ksa frequently results in the hiring
of employees
a
...

b
...

c
...

d
...

145
...
French pastry
...
sauce to put over vegetables
...
pasta dish extended with tomato paste
...
vegetable stew
...
But with age, the body may become less able
to respond to long exposure to very hot or very
cold temperatures
...
Hypothermia is a drop in internal body
temperature, which can be fatal if not detected
and treated
...
Adequate distribution of medicine
is just as urgent
...

148
...
the majority of the people in the world have
no medical care
...
medical resources in emerging nations have
diminished in the past few years
...
not enough doctors give time and money to
those in need of medical care
...
many people who live in emerging nations
are not receiving proper medical care
...
The paragraph best supports the statement
that
a
...

b
...

c
...

d
...

Knitting has made a major comeback
...
New knitting stores, many with
cafes, are popping up all over, and there are more
knitting books and magazines being published
than ever before
...

Whether you can accomplish a speciﬁc goal or
meet a speciﬁc deadline depends ﬁrst on how
much time you need to get the job done
...
Different goals will have to be divided in
different ways, but one seemingly unrealistic goal
can often be accomplished by working on several
smaller, more reasonable goals
...
The paragraph best supports the statement
that
a
...

b
...

c
...

d
...

151
...
jobs often remain only partially completed
because of lack of time
...
the best way to complete projects is to make
sure your goals are achievable
...
the best way to tackle a large project is to
separate it into smaller parts
...
the best approach to a demanding job is to
delegate responsibility
...
Do you want to request information,
order a product, register a complaint, or apply for
something? Do some brainstorming and gather
information before you begin writing
...

Health clubs have undergone a major transformation that can be described in three words:
mind, body, and spirit
...

The clubs are responding to the needs of their
customers who are increasingly looking for a
retreat from their hectic lifestyles and a way to
ﬁnd a healthy balance in their lives by nurturing
their whole selves
...
The main idea of the passage is that
a
...

b
...

c
...

d
...

152
...
exercise is less important now than it
once was
...
health clubs are much less popular now
than they were ten years ago
...
many health clubs will go out of business
because of the decline in traditional exercise
...
people’s desire to nurture all aspects of
themselves has contributed to big changes
for health clubs
...
Today’s
employees are not afraid of responsibility
...
In
addition, along with that responsibility should
come more authority to independently carry out
some important tasks
...

In the majority of jurisdictions throughout the
country, judges have few sentencing options from
which to choose
...

Crimes, however, cover a wide spectrum of criminal behavior and motivation, and a wide variety
of sanctions should be available
...
The main idea of the paragraph is that
a
...

b
...

c
...

d
...

153
...
there should be laws that dictate which
sentence a judge should hand down
...
someone other than a judge should be
allowed to sentence a criminal
...
judges should be given more sentencing
options from which to choose
...
more money should be spent on the
criminal justice system
...
You must respond accordingly
...
Both
commitments make strong demands on people
and are sometimes in direct opposition to each
other
...
Being realistic
and creating a balance in life can help set priorities
...
E-mail simpliﬁes
the ﬂow of ideas, connects people from distant
offices, eliminates the need for meetings, and
often boosts productivity
...
E-mail messages
should be concise and limited to one topic
...

156
...
most family responsibilities cause stress at
home and at work
...
because it pays the bills, a job must take priority over other commitments
...
it is important to have a balance between
job and family responsibilities
...
because they are so important, family
duties must take priority over the job
...
The main idea of the paragraph is that e-mail
a
...

b
...

c
...

d
...

Women business owners are critically important
to the American economy, yet women still face
unique obstacles in the business world
...
S
...

159
...
Appropriate Use of E-Mail
b
...
E-Mail: The Ideal Form of Communication
d
...
This paragraph best supports the statement
that women business owners
a
...

b
...

c
...

d
...

32

– SHORT PASSAGES –

In criminal cases, the availability of readable ﬁngerprints is often critical in establishing evidence
of a major crime
...

In major cases, prints should be obtained from all
persons who may have touched areas associated
with a crime scene, for elimination purposes
...
The artist gives
a poetic message to the viewer, communicating
the beauty of an idea, either by using religious
symbols or a design from nature such as rain on
leaves or sunshine on water
...

161
...
because ﬁngerprints are so important in
many cases, it is important to follow the
correct course in taking them
...
all ﬁngerprints found at a crime scene should
be taken and thoroughly investigated
...
if the incorrect procedure is followed in
gathering ﬁngerprints, the ones taken may
be useless
...
the ﬁrst step in investigating ﬁngerprints is
to eliminate those of non-suspects
...
The main idea of the passage is that Native
American art
a
...

b
...

c
...

d
...

162
...
no crimes can be solved without
readable ﬁngerprints
...
all persons who have touched an area
in a crime scene are suspects
...
all ﬁngerprints found at a crime scene
are used in court as evidence
...
all persons who have touched a crimescene area should be ﬁngerprinted
...
Which of the following best sums up activities
within an ecosystem?
a
...
interactions among all members
c
...
human relationship with the environment

An ecosystem is a group of animals and plants living in a speciﬁc region and interacting with one
another and with their physical environment
...
These organisms may range from large animals to microscopic bacteria
...
People are part of the ecosystems where they live and work
...
An important
part of ecosystem management involves ﬁnding
ways to protect and enhance economic and social
well-being while protecting local ecosystems
...
An ecosystem can most accurately be deﬁned
as a
a
...

b
...

c
...

d
...

Once people wore garlic around their necks to
ward off disease
...
However, you
might find a number of Americans willing to
ingest capsules of pulverized garlic or other herbal
supplements in the name of health
...
In fact, according to one estimate, 42% of Americans have used
alternative therapies
...

163
...
An ecosystem is a community that includes
animals, plants, and microscopic bacteria
...
Human activities can do great damage to
local ecosystems, so human communities
should be cautiously planned
...
In managing the ecology of an area, it is
important to protect both human interests
and the interests of other members of
local ecosystems
...
People should remember that they are
a part of the ecosystems where they live
and work
...
According to the passage, which practice
would not be deﬁned as alternative medicine?
a
...
acupuncture
c
...
massage therapy

Why have so many patients turned to alternative therapies? Many are frustrated by the time
constraints of managed care and alienated by
conventional medicine’s focus on technology
...
Others seek
therapies that relieve symptoms associated with
chronic disease; symptoms that mainstream medicine cannot treat
...
For example, physicians may currently prescribe acupuncture for pain management or to control the nausea associated with
chemotherapy
...
S
...

168
...
a senior citizen suffering from chemotherapyinduced nausea
b
...
a 45-year-old man who believes that his
body and mind must be treated together
...
a 25-year-old track star with chronic back
pain
169
...
more and more Americans are demanding
alternative therapies
...
healthcare insurance companies are now
providing some beneﬁts for alternative
medical treatments
...
they are frustrated by the time constraints
of managed care
...
scientiﬁc studies are becoming available
that prove their effectiveness and safety
...
What is the main idea of this passage?
a
...

b
...

c
...

d
...

35

– SHORT PASSAGES –

171
...
quiet and shy
b
...
clever and amusing
d
...
White students rioted in protest of
her admission, and the federal government had to
assume command of the Alabama National
Guard in order to protect her
...
She remembers being surprised
that the professor of the class appeared not to
notice she was even in class
...

For protection, Autherine was taken in and
out of classroom buildings by the back door and
driven from class to class by an assistant to the
university president
...
University ofﬁcials suspended
her, saying it was for her own safety
...

Although she never ﬁnished her education at the
University of Alabama, Autherine Lucy’s courage
was an inspiration to African-American students
who followed her lead and desegregated universities all over the United States
...
When she began classes at the university,
Autherine Lucy expected to
a
...

b
...

c
...

d
...

173
...
moved to another state
...
transferred to another university
...
dropped out because of pressure from
other students
...
was expelled for insubordination
...
According to the passage, which of the
following is true?
a
...
S
...

b
...

c
...

d
...

170
...
She moved into a dormitory
...
She sat in the front row of her class
...
She became terriﬁed of the white rioters
...
She was befriended by an assistant to the
university president
...
According to the passage, the holiday of Kwanzaa was created in order to
a
...

b
...
Maulana Karenga
...
encourage African Americans to think
about their roots
...
light the individual candles of the kinara
...
It
pays tribute to the rich cultural roots of Americans of African ancestry, and celebrates family,
community, and culture
...

The modern holiday of Kwanzaa was founded in
1966 by Dr
...
The seven-day celebration encourages
people to think about their African roots as well
as their life in present-day America
...

These rules consist of unity, self-determination,
collective work and responsibility, cooperative
economics, purpose, creativity, and faith
...
The kinara is symbolic of the
continental Africans
...
Talking with family,
drumming, singing, and dancing are all part of the
celebration activities
...
Which of the seven principles does the black
center candle of the kinara represent?
a
...
faith
c
...
responsibility
177
...
drumming and rituals
...
dancing and singing
...
dialogue
...
solitude and silence
...
Which of the following is the best deﬁnition
of Kwanzaa?
a
...
the ﬁrst corn of the harvest
c
...
the ﬁrst fruits of the harvest

37

– SHORT PASSAGES –

181
...
to befriend the Aztecs
b
...
to return to Spain
d
...
Equipped with
horses, shining armor, and the most advanced
weapons of the sixteenth century, he fought his
way from the ﬂat coastal area into the mountainous highlands
...
First,
he conquered the groups and then seized their
precious gold
...

Initially, Cortez defeated the Tlascalans,
and then formed an alliance with them to defeat
the Aztecs, their enemies
...
Later, this
warm welcome turned to mistrust and hatred
when the Spaniards mistreated the Aztec people
...
Cortez had Tenochtitlan razed
and built Mexico City on its ruins
...
Which of the following sayings should the
Aztecs have heeded?
a
...

b
...

c
...

d
...

Theodore Roosevelt was born with asthma and
poor eyesight, yet this sickly child later won fame
as a political leader, a Rough Rider, and a hero of
the common people
...
Out west, he hunted buffalo
and ran a cattle ranch
...
He
became President McKinley’s assistant Navy secretary during the Spanish-American War
...
After achieving fame, he
became governor of New York and went on to
become the vice president
...
He is famous for his motto, “Speak softly and
carry a big stick
...
Also, he wanted to
save the forests and break the grip that big
business had on steel and oil
...

179
...
The Aztecs initially thought that Cortez was
a god
...
Cortez knew how to form alliances with the
Aztecs’ enemies
...
The Conquistadors had advanced weapons
...
The Spanish outnumbered the Aztecs
...
The reader can infer from the passage that the
Aztecs thought Cortez was the god from their
prophecy because
a
...

b
...

c
...

d
...

38

– SHORT PASSAGES –

Charles Darwin was born in 1809 in Shrewsbury,
England
...
After many years of careful study, Darwin
attempted to show that higher species came into
existence as a result of the gradual transformation
of lower species, and that the process of transformation could be explained through the selective effect of the natural environment upon
organisms
...
Darwin’s explanation of these principles is
that because of the food supply problem, the
young of any species compete for survival
...
His major work that contained these theories is On the Origin of the
Species, written in 1859
...

183
...
Theodore Roosevelt was a man of many
accomplishments
...
Presidents should speak softly and carry
big sticks
...
Presidents can help countries make peace
...
A governor can become a president
...
What achievement illustrates Roosevelt’s ability to overcome personal obstacles?
a
...

b
...
”
c
...

d
...

185
...
He won the support of his party in a political campaign
...
As vice president, he took over the presidency when McKinley was assassinated
...
He won the nation’s popular vote
...
He won the necessary Electoral College votes
...
According to the passage, Charles Darwin was
which of the following?
a
...
a biologist
c
...
a politician

186
...
assistant Navy secretary during the
Spanish-American War
b
...
governor of New York
d
...
Which of the following statements supports
Darwin’s belief about the origin of all species?
a
...

b
...

c
...

d
...

39

– SHORT PASSAGES –

Maarten, in the 1300s, they were defeated and
forced to abandon the island by a hostile tribe of
Indians originating in South America
...
The Caribbean Sea
was named after them
...
And they were extremely warlike
...
In fact, the very word
cannibal comes from the Spanish name for the
Carib Indians
...

Many Indians succumbed to common European
illnesses; others died from the hard labor forced
upon them
...
Darwin’s explanation that the young of any
species compete for food and survival, and
those that survive are strong and pass their
traits on to their young was called which of
the following?
a
...
the catastrophic theory
c
...
the study of anthropology
190
...
Scientists gave their immediate approval of
Darwin’s book
...
Religious opponents condemned Darwin’s
book
...
The world ignored Darwin’s book
...
Darwin’s book became an immediate
bestseller
...
One can infer from the passage that the Stone
Age people lived on St
...
6000 B
...

b
...
C
...
800 A
...

d
...
D
...
The French and Dutch settled
on the island in the 1600s, and to this day, the
island is divided between the two of them
...

Tourists soon discover that St
...
Ancient artifacts found on
the island date back to the Stone Age, 6,000 years
ago! Tourists also learn that 1,200 years ago the
Arawak Indians inhabited all the islands of the
West Indies and were a peaceful people living
under the guidance of their chiefs
...

192
...
The sea was named after them
...
They were peaceful ﬁshermen, hunters, and
farmers
...
They ate human ﬂesh
...
They settled after defeating the Arawak
Indians
...
According to the passage, the Carib Indians
were ﬁnally defeated by
a
...

b
...

c
...

d
...

40

– SHORT PASSAGES –

commonly known as the senses of sight, touch,
and sound]
...
Isn’t this the way one’s love should
be? A loved one should be a delight to one’s
senses and seem perfect
...
Roses have thorns
...
So can love, the metaphor tells us
...
It can prick us and cause acute suffering
...
What is the point? Just this: It took almost
14 sentences to clarify what a simple metaphor
communicates in only ﬁve words! That is the
artistry and the joy of the simple metaphor
...
One can infer from the passage that the
underlined word strife means
a
...

b
...

c
...

d
...

195
...

Maarten
a
...

b
...

c
...

d
...
S
...

A metaphor is a poetic device that deals with
comparison
...
With a simple metaphor, one
object becomes the other: Love is a rose
...
The reason
for this is that poets compose their poetry to
express what they are experiencing emotionally
at that moment
...
Therefore, the poet’s job is to
enable us to experience it, to feel it the same way
that the poet does
...
”
Let’s analyze this remarkably unsophisticated metaphor concerning love and the rose to
see what it offers
...
A rose is spectacular in its beauty, its petals are velvety soft, and its
aroma is soothing and pleasing
...
The main idea of this passage is
a
...

b
...

c
...

d
...

197
...
a type of ﬁgurative language
...
the only poetic device
...
not precise enough
...
a type of ﬂower in a poem
...

Born in Salzburg, Austria, on January 27,
1756, Wolfgang had composed his ﬁrst original
work by age ﬁve
...
Their first venture was to
nearby Munich where the children played for
Maximillian III Joseph, elector of Bavaria
...
On their way to
Vienna, the family stopped in Linz, where Wolfgang gave his ﬁrst public concert
...
The
audience at Linz was stunned by the six-year-old,
and word of his genius soon traveled to Vienna
...
They utterly charmed the
emperor and empress
...
Leopold seized the opportunity and
booked as many concerts as possible at courts
throughout Europe
...
Today, Leopold might be considered the
worst kind of stage parent, but at the time, it was
not uncommon for prodigies to make extensive
concert tours
...

198
...
protect the rose from harm
...
reduce the ability to love another
...
add a new element to the image of love
...
are just more images to compare to a rose
...
It can be inferred that the true meaning of the
love is a rose metaphor is that
a
...

b
...

c
...

d
...

200
...
to release anger
...
to announce heartache
...
to enable you to experience the poet’s point
of view
...
to reward the senses
...
Wolfgang’s older sister Maria Anna (who
the family called Nannerl) was learning the
clavier, an early keyboard instrument, when
her three-year-old brother took an interest in
playing
...
” Their
father Leopold, an assistant concertmaster at

42

– SHORT PASSAGES –

204
...
Mozart’s father, Leopold, was instrumental
in shaping his career
...
Maria Anna was a talented musician in her
own right
...
Wolfgang’s childhood was devoted to his
musical career
...
Wolfgang preferred the violin to other
instruments
...
A good title for this passage would be
a
...

b
...

c
...

d
...

202
...
his father thought it would be proﬁtable
...
he had a natural talent
...
he saw his sister learning to play an
instrument
...
he came from a musical family
...
According to the passage, during Wolfgang’s
early years, child prodigies were
a
...

b
...

c
...

d
...

203
...
He charmed the emperor and empress
of Hapsburg
...
Word of Wolfgang’s genius spread to
the capital
...
Leopold set his sights on Vienna
...
Invitations for the miracle children to play
poured in
...
Based on information found in the passage,
Mozart can best be described as
a
...

b
...

c
...

d
...

43

– SHORT PASSAGES –

207
...
Backstage at Woodstock
b
...
Remembering Woodstock
d
...

1) The Woodstock Music and Art Fair—better
known to its participants and to history simply as
“Woodstock”—should have been a colossal failure
...
3) Amazingly,
not only was a new site found, but word spread to
the public of the fair’s new location
...
5)
Crowd estimates of 30,000 kept rising; by the end
of the three days, some estimated the crowd at
500,000
...
7) Off and on, throughout all three days,
huge summer storms rolled over the gathering
...

208
...
sentence 1
b
...
sentence 3
d
...
Why is the word amazingly used in sentence 3?
a
...

b
...

c
...

d
...

44

S E C T I O N

6

Nonﬁction and
Information
Passages

I

n this section, you will be dealing with nonﬁction and information passages, such as the type you might
ﬁnd in a textbook
...
These passages are not necessarily more difﬁcult than the
ones you’ve already covered in the earlier chapters of this book
...

Remember what you’ve learned so far
...
Look for the main idea of the passage
...
What clues can you deduce from the writing style about the
author’s attitude toward the subject? Is the attitude positive? Negative? Objective? Try to pick out individual
words that further each writer’s intent and support each writer’s opinion
...
Active reading techniques like these will keep you focused on some very detailed reading
comprehension passages
...
What is the main focus of this passage?
a
...
the proper installation of home
smoke detectors
c
...
how smoke detectors prevent ﬁres
in homes

The answers to this section begin on page 141
...

Because smoke detectors reduce the risk of dying
in a ﬁre by half, ﬁreﬁghters often provide audiences with information on how to install these
protective devices in their homes
...
While sleeping, people are in particular danger of an emergent fire, and there must
be a detector outside each sleeping area
...

Because of the dead-air space that might be
missed by turbulent hot air bouncing around
above a ﬁre, smoke detectors should be installed
either on the ceiling at least four inches from the
nearest wall, or high on a wall at least four, but no
further than twelve, inches from the ceiling
...
Nor
should they be placed in kitchens and garages,
where cooking and gas fumes are likely to cause
false alarms
...
The passage implies that dead-air space is
most likely to be found
a
...

b
...

c
...

d
...

213
...
50% better chance of surviving a ﬁre
...
50% better chance of preventing a ﬁre
...
75% better chance of detecting a
hidden ﬁre
...
100% better chance of not being injured
in a ﬁre
...
A smoke detector should NOT be installed
near a window because
a
...

b
...

c
...

d
...

210
...
hierarchical order
b
...
cause-and-effect
d
...

This can result in a savings of more than 50% on
your monthly lighting costs
...

Windows provide another opportunity to
cut your energy costs
...

Most areas of your home or apartment
offer opportunities to save energy and money
...

215
...
install smoke detectors in the homes of residents in the community
...
check homes to see if smoke detectors have
been properly installed
...
develop ﬁre safety programs for community leaders and school teachers
...
speak to school children about the importance of preventing ﬁres
...
A smoke detector must always be placed
a
...

b
...

c
...

d
...

Saving energy means saving money
...

For those willing to spend some time and
money to reap long-term energy savings, an
energy audit is the way to go
...
The auditor will pinpoint areas of your
home that use the most energy and offer solutions to
lower your energy use and costs
...

There are quicker and less costly measures
that can be taken as well
...
Which two main organizational schemes can
be identiﬁed in this passage?
a
...
order by topic and cause and effect
c
...
chronological order and compare
and contrast
218
...
You can reduce your $130 monthly lighting
costs to $65 by using ﬂuorescent bulbs
instead of incandescent
...
Double-paned windows can cut energy costs
...
Your local energy company will send an
energy auditor at your request
...
Some appliances have energy-saving settings
...
For example, some book clubs
focus exclusively on ﬁction, others read nonﬁction
...
Others have a more ﬂexible
and open focus
...

After setting the basic parameters, recruitment can begin
...
When enough people express
interest, schedule a kick-off meeting during which
decisions will be made about speciﬁc guidelines
that will ensure the club runs smoothly
...
By
the end of this meeting, these guidelines should
be set and a book selection and date for the ﬁrst
ofﬁcial meeting should be ﬁnalized
...

219
...
There are many things a homeowner or
renter can do to save energy and money
...
Hiring an energy auditor will save energy
and money
...
Homeowners and renters don’t know what
they can do to save energy and money
...
Replacing windows and light bulbs are well
worth the effort and cost
...
According to the passage, which of the following would an energy auditor NOT do?
a
...

b
...

c
...

d
...

221
...
are energy efﬁcient
...
should only be used as replacement windows
...
should only be used in new additions
to homes
...
will lower your heating costs by 50%
...
If you’re interested in starting a book club, you should consider
the following options and recommendations
...

Before recruiting, think carefully about how many

48

– NONFICTION AND INFORMATION PASSAGES –

225
...
Book Clubs: A Great Way to Make New
Friends
b
...
Five Easy Steps to Starting a Successful
Book Club
d
...
Which of the following organizational patterns is the main one used in the passage?
a
...
hierarchical
c
...
cause and effect
223
...
hang ﬂyers in local establishments
...
put an ad in a local newspaper
...
decide on the focus and size of the club
...
decide when and where the group
will meet
...
Which of the following is NOT something
that successful book clubs should do?
a
...
have guidelines about where and when
to meet
c
...
decide how to choose and who will choose
book selections

224
...
deciding on whether refreshments will be
served
...
discussing and/or appointing a leader
...
choosing the club’s ﬁrst selection
...
identifying what kinds of books or genre
will be the club’s focus
...
Which of the following inferences can be
drawn from the passage?
a
...

b
...

c
...

d
...

49

– NONFICTION AND INFORMATION PASSAGES –

Last spring, employees of the Hartville Corporation organized a weeklong strike to protest poor
working conditions and unreasonable company
policies
...
The situation resulted in the formation of an employee
task force, supported by Hartville management, to
review circumstances that led to the strike
...

There is evidence that middle management
withholds vital information leading to upper
management’s underestimation of the severity of employee discontent
...
Which of the following is the main organizational pattern used in the passage?
a
...
hierarchical order
c
...
cause and effect

■

Hartville’s overtime pay schedule is well
below the national level, and overtime is
mandatory at least once a week
...
The equipment they
are working with is extremely old and dangerous and does not meet current health and
safety standards
...

229
...
The equipment they use is broken
...
Their computer keyboards are outdated
...
Hartville’s equipment is below standard
...
They are under a great deal of pressure
at work
...

Employees report conﬂicting and/or confusing policies relating to sick and personal days,
which have resulted in numerous misunderstandings about procedures and allowances as
well as unfair disciplinary action
...
In all
ﬁve cases, the grounds for ﬁring were not
speciﬁcally cited, although one of the employees was told by her immediate supervisor that
new mothers make very unreliable employees
...
According to the passage, which of the following was a speciﬁc task-force recommendation?
a
...

b
...

c
...

d
...

50

– NONFICTION AND INFORMATION PASSAGES –

Because each patient is different and has different
goals, the music therapist must be able to understand the patient’s situation and choose the music
and activities that will do the most toward helping the patient achieve his or her goals
...

Although patients may develop their musical skills, that is not the main goal of music therapy
...

231
...
they are more concerned with saving
money than protecting employees
...
they are unaware of the degree of dissatisfaction among their employees
...
the company is about to be sold, and they
are distracted
...
they have not been trained in the latest
management techniques
...
Which of the following is NOT in the passage?
a
...
a discussion of suspicious employee
terminations
c
...
an outline of the policy relating to sick
and personal days

233
...
I
...
Locating a music therapist
III
...
I
...
A typical music-therapy intervention
III
...
I
...
Training for music therapists
III
...
I
...
When to refer to a music therapist
III
...
It seems a particularly good choice for the social worker who is
coordinating a client’s case
...
Patients and
therapists may sing, play instruments, dance,
compose, or simply listen to music
...
In addition to formal musical
and therapy training, music therapists are taught
to discern what kinds of interventions will be
most beneficial for each individual patient
...
Which of the following would be the most
appropriate title for this passage?
a
...
What Social Workers Need to Know about
Music Therapy
c
...
The Social Worker as Music Therapist

237
...

a
...
summer
c
...
winter

235
...
need to develop coping skills
...
were orphaned as children
...
need to resolve family issues
...
need to improve social skills
...
It can be inferred from the passage that, in the
Southern Hemisphere, June 21 is the
a
...

b
...

c
...

d
...

Jessie Street is sometimes called the Australian
Eleanor Roosevelt
...
In addition, she gained international fame
when she was the only woman on the Australian
delegation to the conference that founded the
United Nations, just as Eleanor Roosevelt was for
the United States
...
Which of the following inferences can be
drawn from the passage?
a
...

b
...

c
...

d
...

239
...
Eleanor Roosevelt and Jessie Street worked
together to include women in the United
Nations Charter
...
Usually, people who live lives of privilege
do not spend much time participating in
political activities
...
Discrimination in Australia is much worse
than it ever was in the United States
...
At the time of the formation of the United
Nations, few women were involved in international affairs
...
The ﬁrst day of summer, June 21, is called summer solstice and is also
the longest day of the year
...

52

– NONFICTION AND INFORMATION PASSAGES –

Authentic Dhurrie rugs are hand woven in India
...
In
fact, the name Dhurrie comes from the Indian
word dari, which means threads of cotton
...

Light pollution is a growing problem worldwide
...
Where it
was once possible to look up at the night sky and
see thousands of twinkling stars in the inky
blackness, one now sees little more than the yellow
glare of urban sky-glow
...

242
...
people studying traditional Indian culture
b
...
people learning to operate a rug loom
d
...
The passage implies that the most serious
damage done by light pollution is to our
a
...

b
...

c
...

d
...

Worldwide illiteracy rates have consistently
declined in the last few decades
...
However, there
are still an estimated 771 million illiterate adults
in the world, about two-thirds of who are women
...
The result is a layered city,
with each tier holding information about a part
of Russia’s past
...
Among the ﬁndings
from the various periods of Moscow’s history are
carved bones, metal tools, pottery, glass, jewelry,
and crosses
...
Based on the passage, the author would tend to
agree with which of the following statements?
a
...

b
...

c
...

d
...

241
...
the people of Moscow are more interested
in modernization than in preservation
...
the Soviet government destroyed many of
the historic buildings in Russia
...
Moscow is the oldest large city in Russia,
founded in 1147
...
Moscow has a history of invasions, with
each new conqueror razing past structures
...
Consisting of both
living and non-living components, this type of
ecosystem is found in the warm, clear, shallow
waters of tropical oceans worldwide
...
In fact, reefs actually create land in tropical areas by formulating islands
and contributing mass to continental shorelines
...
While corals are the
main components of reef structure, they are not
the only living participants
...
Together, these living creatures construct
many different types of tropical reefs
...
D
...
Charlemagne died in 814, but his
brief reign marked the dawn of a distinctly European culture
...
_________
________
_______________________
...

244
...
Cultural traditions function to identify
members of a culture to one another and,
also, to allow the individual to self-identify
...
Many of the traditions of these cultures
remained active in Frankish society for
centuries
...
When tradition is lacking or is not honored
by the younger generation in a society,
there is danger that the culture will be lost
...
It is unnecessary to discuss the origin of these
traditions; it will only muddy the water
...
Which of the following is the best meaning of
the underlined word putrefaction as it is used
in the ﬁrst paragraph of the passage?
a
...
decay
c
...
farming

245
...
the fashionable class
b
...
a partnership
d
...
Which of the following kinds of publications
would most likely contain this passage?
a
...
an advanced marine biology textbook
c
...
a general circulation magazine about
science and nature

246
...
14 years
b
...
13 years
d
...
Which words or phrases, if inserted in order
into the blanks in the passage, would help the
reader understand the sequence of the
author’s ideas?
a
...
However; Now
c
...
Even if; On the other hand

249
...
Coral reefs are beneﬁcial for ﬁsh
...
Coral reefs are good for shorelines in
tropical areas
...
Coral reefs are composed exclusively of coral
...
Coral reefs contain living and non-living
components
...
According to the passage, what was the impact
of the U
...
Civil War on the development of
international law?
a
...

b
...

c
...

d
...

In 1899, Czar Nicholas II of Russia invited the
nations of the world to a conference at The
Hague
...

This growth was in response to several factors, not
the least of which was modern warfare’s increasing potential for destruction
...

During this growth, the subjects of international law were almost exclusively restricted to
the relationships that countries had with one
another
...
___________, the developments of this
period paved the way for further expansion of
international law, which has occurred in the last
several years
...

252
...
escorted
b
...
guarded
d
...
With which of the following would the author
most likely agree?
a
...

b
...

c
...

d
...

A healthy diet with proper nutrition is essential
for maintaining good overall health
...
The Recommended
Dietary Allowance (RDA) is a frequently used
nutritional standard for maintaining optimal
health
...
The National
Research Council’s Committee on Diet and
Health has proposed a deﬁnition of the RDA to
be that amount of a nutrient which meets the
needs of 98% of the population
...

First, it is based on the assumption that it is possible to accurately define nutritional requirements for a given group
...
The efﬁciency with which a person
converts food intake into nutrients can also vary
widely
...
For
example, spinach combined with milk reduces
the amount of calcium available to the body from
the milk
...
Still, although we cannot rely solely
upon RDA to ensure our overall long-term
health, it can be a useful guide so long as its limitations are recognized
...
Sales departments keep track of
current and potential customers; marketing
departments keep track of product details and
regional demographics; accounting departments keep track of ﬁnancial data and issue
reports
...
Such
a system is called a management information
system, abbreviated MIS
...

Accounting is the information system that
records, analyzes, and reports economic transactions, enabling decision makers to make
informed choices when allocating scarce economic resources
...
It
is an aid to planning, controlling, and evaluating
a broad range of activities
...
Because it is important that ﬁnancial accounting reports be interpreted correctly,
financial accounting is subject to a set of
___________ guidelines called “generally
accepted accounting principles” (GAAP)
...
Which of the following would best ﬁt in the
blank in the ﬁrst sentence of paragraph 2?
a
...
has a number of shortcomings
c
...
is full of holes

56

– NONFICTION AND INFORMATION PASSAGES –

that all geniuses experience three intensely productive periods in their lives, one of which always
occurs shortly before their deaths; this is true
whether the genius lives to 19 or 90
...
This passage is most likely taken from
a
...

b
...

c
...

d
...

258
...
For example
b
...
However
d
...
The word that would ﬁt most correctly into
the blank in the ﬁnal sentence is
a
...

b
...

c
...

d
...

257
...
helping business people make sound
judgments
b
...
producing reports of many different kinds
of transactions
d
...
According to the information presented in the
passage, what is the general populace’s opinion of genius?
a
...

b
...

c
...

d
...

260
...
Understanding Mozarts and Einsteins
b
...
The Uncanny Patterns in the Lives of
Geniuses
d
...
People see genius as a good
abnormality; moreover, they think of genius as a
completely unpredictable abnormality
...
These patterns do not dispel the common belief that there is a kind of supernatural
intervention in the lives of unusually talented
men and women, however, even though they
occur with regularity
...
Given the information in the passage, which of
the following statements is true?
a
...

b
...

c
...

d
...

57

– NONFICTION AND INFORMATION PASSAGES –

262
...
His monument stands at the lower end of
the road, that is, the end closest to the river
Liffey that bisects Dublin
...
Other monuments along the street include
statues to Charles Parnell, Anna Livia
Plurabelle, and James Joyce
...
Dublin tourist buses leave from this site
every 20 minutes
...
Daniel O’Connell was an important Irish
nationalist, who died before the 1916
rebellion
...
Although it is not a particularly long
street, Dubliners will proudly tell the visitor that
it is the widest street in all of Europe
...
But the witty
Dubliner will not easily relinquish bragging rights
and will trump the French visitor with a ﬁne distinction: The Champs Elysees is a boulevard;
O’Connell is a street
...

_____________________________
...
Further
up the street is the famous General Post Ofﬁce
that locals affectionately call the GPO
...
To this
day, the angels of O’Connell’s monument bear the
marks of the ﬁghting: One sits reading calmly,
apparently unaware of the bullet hole dimpling
her upper arm; another, reaching out to stroke the
ears of a huge bronze Irish wolfhound has survived what should be a mortal wound to her
heart
...
Which of the following would be the best title
for this passage?
a
...
The Irish Take Pride in Their Capital City
c
...
Sights and History on Dublin’s O’Connell
Street
264
...
to trumpet loudly, to blare or drown out
b
...
to get the better of by using a key or hidden
resource
d
...
With which of the following statements about
the people of Dublin would the author of the
passage most likely agree?
a
...

b
...

c
...

d
...

58

– NONFICTION AND INFORMATION PASSAGES –

working behind the counter yelled at me to clean
up after myself
...

The subject of the next two passages is the same, but the
way they are written is different
...

266
...
a long line of customers
...
the ﬁre marshal
...
the restaurant critic from the newspaper
...
homemade pie
...
Recently relocated to the old market area,
Dilly’s is especially popular for lunch
...
Once you
get your food, choose a seat at one of the four
charming communal tables
...

267
...
sit next to a truck driver
...
place your order with the waiter who comes
to your table
...
dress warmly
...
carry your own food to your table
...
Which of the following illustrates the
restaurant critic’s opinion of the food at
Dilly’s Deli?
a
...
”
b
...
”
c
...
”
d
...
”

Restaurant review
Yesterday, I was exposed to what has been called
“a dining experience like no other
...

The line snaked out the door to the corner, and by
the time I reached the counter, I was freezing
...

Each special is offered with two side dishes, but
there was no potato salad left and the green beans
were cooked nearly beyond recognition
...

At Dilly’s, you sit at one of four long tables
...
The truck driver next to me told me
more than I wanted to know about highway
taxes
...
The main purpose of the restaurant review
is to
a
...

b
...

c
...

d
...

59

– NONFICTION AND INFORMATION PASSAGES –

liant color and intricate designs, which scientists
believe they use for communication and for mating displays
...
At the very least, cuttleﬁsh conversation must be the most sparkling in
all the sea
...
The main purpose of the Chamber of Commerce brochure is to
a
...

b
...

c
...

d
...

271
...

a
...

b
...

c
...

d
...

Cuttleﬁsh are intriguing little animals
...

Although they are not considered the most highly
evolved of the cephalopods, they are extremely
intelligent
...
Cuttleﬁsh are also
highly mobile and fast creatures
...

Ribbons of ﬂexible ﬁns on each side of the body
allow cuttleﬁsh to hover, move, stop, and start
...

________
The cuttleﬁsh is sometimes referred to as the
“chameleon of the sea” because it can change its
skin color and pattern instantaneously
...
Which of the following best describes the purpose of the author in the passage?
a
...
to explain the communication habits of
cuttleﬁsh
c
...
to describe the “chameleon of the sea”
informatively and entertainingly

272
...
Cuttleﬁsh are a type of squid
...
Cuttleﬁsh use jet propulsion as one form of
locomotion
...
The cuttleﬁsh does not have an exoskeleton
...
Cuttleﬁsh are the most intelligent
cephalopods
...
Which of the following best outlines the main
topics addressed in the passage?
a
...
Explanation of why cuttleﬁsh are
intriguing
II
...
I
...
Scientiﬁc explanation of modes of
cuttleﬁsh communication
c
...
Explanation of the cuttleﬁsh’s method
of locomotion
II
...
I
...
Uses and beauty of the cuttleﬁsh’s ability
to change color

61

– NONFICTION AND INFORMATION PASSAGES –

hours, their plants [palms] had removed almost
all traces of formaldehyde in the room
...
Another trait they
share is that they both live long lives, 100 years or
more
...
Perhaps it is their primal qualities
that have contributed to their ability to purify
their environment
...
People browse
through garden stores just to get a whiff of chlorophyll and to choose a plant or two to bring spring
back into their winter-gray lives
...
Each time we bring clothes
home from the cleaners, we release those chemicals into the closed-in air of our dwellings
...

Some of the chemicals are formaldehyde, chlorine, benzene, styrene, etc
...
In
fact, most people probably dismiss the effects of
these chemicals simply as a flare up of some
allergy or other
...
Now, what has this got to do with
green plants? Everything healthy! Research has
been conducted with two types of plants that
have actually removed much of these harmful
chemicals from the air
...
These plants release moisture as
part of photosynthesis and, as they do, pull
chemicals from the air into their leaves
...
Within

275
...
Our homes are full of contaminants
...
Our allergies are caused by chemicals found
in the home
...
All plants release moisture in the home
...
Certain plants can purify the home of many
harmful chemicals
...
According to the passage, when a few harmful
chemicals combine, they can
a
...

b
...

c
...

d
...

277
...
has only been conducted using speciﬁc
plants
...
has only been conducted by NASA
...
has not identiﬁed the sources of these
chemical impurities
...
has only beneﬁted long term space
exploration
...
The main idea of this passage is best summed
up in which statement?
a
...

b
...

c
...

d
...

278
...
live long
...
purify the air
...
grow leaves that live long
...
react successfully in research experiments
...
A good title for this passage is
a
...

b
...

c
...

d
...

281
...
the Egyptians used stone quarried many
miles away from the pyramid site
...
the pyramids of Mesoamerica were built to
last for eternity
...
the Egyptian pyramids were public tombs
...
the Egyptian and Mesoamerican pyramids
were built during the same time period
...
Historians have
discovered that the construction of the pyramids
in Egypt and Mesoamerica are separated by over
2,000 years
...

On the other hand, the pyramids of Mesoamerica were not built to withstand the ravages
of time
...

Unlike the Egyptians, they used irregular stones
...
While the Egyptian pyramids
were private tombs meant to seperate the
pharaoh’s remains from the mainstream of society and protect him for eternity, the pyramids
of Mesoamerica were primarily public temples
of ritual and celebration
...
The passage best supports the statement that
a
...

b
...

c
...

d
...

283
...
for a short time
b
...
for all time
d
...
In his poem, “Montage of a Dream Deferred,”
what inﬂuenced his writing?
a
...
his travel experience
c
...
the world of jazz

Born in Joplin, Missouri, in 1902, Langston
Hughes grew up to become a prominent writer of
the black American experience
...

In November 1924, he moved to Harlem, New
York, where his life and work contributed greatly
to the Harlem Renaissance of the 1920s
...
He
wrote novels, short stories, and plays, as well as
poetry
...
”
Hughes did not personalize his stories because he
wanted readers to draw their own conclusions
about the experiences of blacks in America
...
Langston Hughes was known for which of the
following?
a
...
writing novels and short stories only
c
...
writing novels, short stories, plays,
and poems
287
...
the Harlem Renaissance
b
...
Joplin, Missouri
d
...
Why didn’t Hughes personalize his stories?
a
...

b
...

c
...

d
...

64

S E C T I O N

7

Reading Charts
and Graphs,
Understanding
Directions

T

his is a section with questions that can be applied to situations you ﬁnd in everyday life
...
You may even ﬁnd situations
where you have to listen to and act upon written or verbal directions
...
So, the most important thing is to pay attention to
every detail
...
Also, read the title and footnotes carefully
...
With a little practice, these types of questions can be the easiest
...

65

– READING CHARTS AND GRAPHS, UNDERSTANDING DIRECTIONS –

The answers to this section begin on page 146
...
Note their simplicity and economy
...
The names of the categories in the third column, labeled “Damage,” could best be
described as
a
...

b
...

c
...

d
...

288
...
F0
b
...
F2
d
...
Which of the following incidents at Hanesboro Crossing would be considered an act of
nature?
a
...

b
...

c
...

d
...

290
...
Fenner Forest
b
...
Murphy County Nature Reserve
d
...
According to the table, lightning ﬁres
a
...

b
...

c
...

d
...

67

– READING CHARTS AND GRAPHS, UNDERSTANDING DIRECTIONS –

HURST COUNTY TOWNS,
NUMBER OF DAYS WITHOUT
SIGNIFICANT PRECIPITATION*
TOWN

NUMBER OF
DAYS

DISTRIBUTION OF OCCUPATIONS
OF 200 ADULT MALES IN THE
BAIDYA CASTE, MADARIPUR
VILLAGE, BENGAL, 1914

STATUS**

OCCUPATION

NUMBER

Riderville

38

level two

farmers

02

Adams

25

level one

government service, clerks

44

Parkston

74

level three

lawyers

06

Kings Hill

28

level two

newspapers and presses

05

West Granville

50

level three

no occupation

25

Braxton

23

level three

not recorded

08

Chase Crossing

53

level four

students

68

Livingston Center

45

level three

teachers

11

trade and commerce

23

other

08

* Less than half an inch in a 48-hour period
...

293
...
level one
...
level two
...
level three
...
level four
...
The largest number of men in the Baidya caste
of Madaripur are involved in which ﬁeld?
a
...
agriculture
c
...
publishing

294
...
is more likely to experience a ﬁre
...
is less likely to experience a ﬁre
...
is just as likely to experience a ﬁre
...
has gone a shorter period of time without
signiﬁcant precipitation
...
The smallest number of men in the Baidya
caste of Madaripur are involved in which
ﬁeld?
a
...
agriculture
c
...
publishing

68

– READING CHARTS AND GRAPHS, UNDERSTANDING DIRECTIONS –

MEN’S AND WOMEN’S TABLE TENNIS, SUMMER OLYMPICS 2004
COUNTRY

GOLD

SILVER

BRONZE

TOTAL

China

3

1

2

6

Korea

1

1

1

3

Denmark

0

0

1

1

WOMEN’S TABLE TENNIS, SUMMER OLYMPICS 2004
COUNTRY

GOLD

SILVER

BRONZE

TOTAL

China

2

0

1

3

Korea

0

1

1

2

Hong Kong

0

0

0

0

MEN’S TABLE TENNIS, SUMMER OLYMPICS 2004
COUNTRY

GOLD

SILVER

BRONZE

TOTAL

China

1

1

1

3

Demark

0

0

1

1

Hong Kong

0

1

0

1

297
...
China
b
...
Denmark
d
...
In which competition did Korea win an equal
number of gold, silver, and bronze medals?
a
...
the Women’s competition
c
...
the combined Men’s and Women’s
competition

298
...
China
b
...
Denmark
d
...
Which of the following countries won one
bronze medal and no other medals?
a
...
Denmark
c
...
Hong Kong

69

– READING CHARTS AND GRAPHS, UNDERSTANDING DIRECTIONS –

MOUNT WASHINGTON, NEW HAMPSHIRE WEATHER DATA
ELEVATION: 6,288 FEET LATITUDE: 44 16N LONGITUDE: 071 18W
YEARLY

JANUARY

FEBRUARY

MARCH

APRIL

Average Temperature
27° (Fahrenheit)

6°

6°

13°

23°

Average Precipitation
90
...
1 inches

7
...
9 inches

7
...
8 inches

42
...
3 inches

Average Snowfall
41 inches

40 inches

303
...
41 inches
b
...
42
...
31
...
What is the average snowfall for the month of
February?
a
...
4 inches
b
...
40 inches
d
...
8 inches

304
...
90
...
7
...
7
...
7
...
What is the average temperature for the
month of April?
a
...
13°
c
...
31
...
Clinical researchers use the following guidelines regarding a person’s BMI and possible health risks
...
In the 35–39 BMI range, what is the risk based
solely on BMI?
a
...
moderate
c
...
very high

307
...
BMI
b
...
Risk Adjusted for Other Health Conditions
d
...
What range BMI is considered a minimal
health risk?
a
...
25–26
c
...
30–34

308
...
minimal
b
...
moderate
d
...
Any truck that ﬁnishes its
assigned route before the end of the driver’s shift
will return to its lot where supervisors will provide materials for that driver to use while cleaning the truck
...
Therefore, drivers should no
longer leave personal items in the trucks, because
they will not necessarily be driving the same truck
each day, as they did in the past
...
Following are a number of job-related passages
...

Notice 1
All drivers are responsible for refueling their vehicles
at the end of each shift
...
If a driver believes
a vehicle is in need of mechanical repair, the driver
should ﬁll out the pink repair requisition form
and give it to the shift supervisor
...

311
...
a small group of drivers speciﬁcally
assigned to the task
...
custodians who work for the city
...
any supervisor or driver who ﬁnishes a
route ﬁrst
...
each driver as that driver ﬁnishes the
assigned route
...
If a vehicle is due to have the oil changed,
whose responsibility is it?
a
...
the drivers at the end of their shifts
c
...
outside service mechanics
310
...
are refueled when they have less than half a
tank of gas
...
have the oil changed every 1,000 miles
...
are refueled at the end of every shift
...
are in frequent need of repair
...
According to the passage, routes within particular departments
a
...

b
...

c
...

d
...

313
...
were not responsible for cleaning the trucks
...
had to repaint the trucks at intervals
...
usually drove the same truck each workday
...
were not allowed to leave personal belongings in the trucks
...
Drivers are reminded that each route has several
checkpoints at which drivers should check the
time
...
If trafﬁc makes it unsafe for
a driver to delay at a particular checkpoint, the
driver should proceed at a reasonable speed to the
next stop and hold there until the bus is back on
schedule
...
As
investigator in charge of a case, you should seek
out and take advantage of potential talent in all
the members of your team
...
This way, you are
likely to discover special investigative skills you
never suspected your team members had
...

315
...
the bus is going too fast and the engine is
overheating
...
the bus is running ahead of schedule
...
the bus is running behind schedule
...
passengers are complaining about the bus
being off schedule
...
The paragraph best supports the statement
that a single member of an investigative team
a
...

b
...

c
...

d
...

316
...
stop their buses when trafﬁc is unsafe
...
drive at a reasonable speed
...
check the time at every stop
...
see that their buses run on schedule
...

Instructors who have used this new technology report that trainees develop skills more
quickly than with traditional training methods
...

Drivers can also check their reaction times and
hand-eye coordination
...

Important Warning
Only certain people are qualiﬁed to handle hazardous waste
...
S
...
If you are unclear
whether a particular item is hazardous, you
should not handle the item but should instead
notify a supervisor of the Sanitation Department
...
Hazardous waste is deﬁned as
a
...

b
...

c
...
S
...

d
...

318
...
The
container does not list the contents of the
cleaner
...
assume the solvent is safe and deposit it in
the sanitation truck
...
leave a note for the residents, asking them
to list the contents of the solvent
...
simply leave the container on the curb
...
contact the supervisor for directions
...
All bus operators are required to do which of
the following?
a
...

b
...

c
...

d
...

320
...
make sure that all bus operators are maintaining proper driving habits
...
give experienced bus operators an opportunity to learn new driving techniques
...
help all bus operators to develop hand-eye
coordination
...
reduce the city’s operating budget
...
Potential F
...
S
...
members can attend less
than half of F
...
S
...
drills if they
a
...

b
...

c
...

d
...

Notice: Training to Begin for F
...
S
...

Membership
A training calendar and schedule for Fire Agency
Specialties Team (F
...
S
...
) membership is available in this ofﬁce to all applicants for F
...
S
...

membership
...
Classes will be taught on
Monday afternoons, Wednesday evenings, and
Saturday afternoons
...
A
...
T
...

First, in order for you to be considered for
membership on F
...
S
...
, your department must
be a member of the F
...
S
...
organization, and
you must have written permission from your ﬁre
chief or your department’s highest ranking
administrator
...
These include
completion of technician-level training and certiﬁcation in hazardous material (hazmat) operations
...
A
...
T
...
A
...
T
...
You may qualify for alternative credit for drills by proving previous experience in actual hazmat emergency response
...
You will be placed
back on active status only after you complete
the training necessary to meet the minimum
requirements
...
Which of the following is the main subject of
the passage?
a
...
the main goal of F
...
S
...

c
...
A
...
T
...
learning about your department’s F
...
S
...

membership
323
...
three days each month
...
three days each week
...
every third month
...
for 50% of classes
...
After
20 minutes, take the pack off, wait half an hour,
and then reapply
...

Never leave a cold pack on for more than 20
minutes at a time
...
Be careful not to wind it too
tightly; doing so can restrict blood ﬂow and cause
harm to the entire foot
...
A sprain
occurs when the ligaments of a joint are twisted
and possibly torn
...
A
sprain can occur from a sudden wrenching at the
joint, or a stretching or tearing of the ﬁbers of the
ligaments
...
Stepping off the sidewalk
at the wrong angle or having one foot land in a
hole while jogging can leave you rolling on the
ground in agony with an ankle on ﬁre! If you
cannot walk without experiencing intense pain,
you must seek medical help
...
The main idea of the passage is to
a
...

b
...

c
...

d
...

Elevate
Cool
Bandage

As soon as there is injury to that ligament,
there will be a certain amount of bleeding under
the skin
...
The pressure from the swelling results in
additional stress and tenderness to the region
...
Next, to
shrink the blood vessels and keep bleeding (hence

325
...
enlarged blood vessels in the foot
...
ﬂuctuating temperature signaling the elevation of body temperature
...
torn tissue in the ball of the foot
...
torn or twisted ligament ﬁbers that hold the
joint in position
...
It can be inferred that the black-and-blue
symptom of the sprain is due to
a
...

b
...

c
...

d
...

326
...
If there is intense pain, seek medical attention
...
Do not wind the bandage too tightly
...
Do not put your ankle near the ﬁre
...
Do not keep the cold pack on for more than
20 minutes at a time
...
According to the directions, once the initial
cold pack is removed, what is to be done?
a
...

b
...

c
...

d
...

77

S E C T I O N

8

Analyzing and
Interpreting
Poems

P

oetry scares some people, mainly because they believe that poems have hidden meanings
...
In reality, poetry compresses
the language into small sentences or phrases, so it just seems that the meanings are hidden
...
Think of it as frozen orange juice
...

Also, remember that poets compare objects to other objects
...
Think
back to Section 2, Analogies, and remember the way you made comparisons there
...

(The speaker may not be the poet
...
Through the images
that the words make, you should be able to answer the questions correctly
...

Depending on your life experiences, the answer may be
immediately clear
...
Look
closely for clues in the language
...

The following poem is by Alfred, Lord Tennyson
...

The Eagle
He clasps the crag with crooked hands;
Close to the sun in lonely lands,
Ringed with the azure world he stands
...

329
...
dying of old age
b
...
learning joyfully to ﬂy
d
...
To which of the following do the underlined
words azure world most likely refer?
a
...
the sky
c
...
nature

Several of Nature’s People
I know, and they know me—
I feel for them a transport
Of cordiality—
But never met this Fellow,
Attended, or alone—
Without a tighter breathing
And zero at the bone—

331
...
waves
b
...
the eagle’s prey
d
...
Who or what is the Fellow in this poem?
a
...
a snake
c
...
a boy

80

– ANALYZING AND INTERPRETING POEMS –

It’s true that poems often have two levels—one literal,
one figurative
...
In exploring
the second level of meaning, consider the speaker’s
attitude, revealed especially through surprising, and
jarring, word choices
...
The phrase Without a tighter breathing / And
zero at the bone most nearly indicates
a
...

b
...

c
...

d
...

334
...
nature-lovers
...
children
...
animals
...
neighbors
...

335
...
an adult woman
...
an adult man
...
Emily Dickinson, the poet
...
a young boy
...

336
...
delight
b
...
indifference
d
...
The poem implies that the attitude of the
ﬂowers toward the frost is one of
a
...

b
...

c
...

d
...

338
...
benevolent
...
just
...
cruel
...
angry
...
The main idea of the poem is that
a
...

b
...

c
...

d
...

Because I Could Not Stop for Death
Because I could not stop for Death—
He kindly stopped for me—
The carriage held but just Ourselves—
And Immortality
...
In stanza 2, the word haste can be deﬁned as
a
...

b
...

c
...

d
...

We passed the School, where children played
At Recess—in the Ring—
We passed the ﬁelds of gazing grain—
We passed the Setting Sun
...
The image described in stanza 4 most closely
represents
a
...

b
...

c
...

d
...

We paused before a house that seemed
A swelling of the ground—
The roof was scarcely visible—
The cornice but a mound
...
One can infer from the tone of the poem that
the speaker
a
...

b
...

c
...

d
...

339
...
an indifferent driver
...
a kindly gentleman
...
an immortal god disguised as a human
...
none of the above
...
What is the main idea of this poem?
a
...

b
...

c
...

d
...

This next poem is by William Shakespeare
...

His acts being seven ages
...
in the nurse’s arms
...
And then the lover,
Sighing like a furnace
...
Jealous of honor,
Sudden and quick in quarrel
...

Full of wise saws and modern instances;
And so he plays his part
...

With spectacles on nose and pouch on side
...
and his big manly voice, Turning again toward
Childish treble, pipes and whistles in his sound
...

347
...
Death is to be feared
...
Life is a circle that brings us back to the
beginning
...
The male of the species is the only true
measure of the stages of life
...
The stages of life are unrelated and can be
altered by each individual’s free will
...
The poet uses the words merely (line 2) and
mere (line 20)
a
...

b
...

c
...

d
...

344
...
sorrow
b
...
amusement
d
...
What characterizes the period of life represented by the soldier?
a
...
his sense of honor
c
...
his fear of cowardice

83

S E C T I O N

9

Philosophy and
Literature

T

he next passages are based on philosophy and literature
...
All the information you need is in the passage
...
Then
use your ability to make inferences based on the facts in the passage
...

85

– PHILOSOPHY AND LITERATURE –

350
...
furtive
b
...
unkempt
d
...

The ﬁctional world of Nobel Prize winner Toni
Morrison’s novel Sula—the African-American
section of Medallion, Ohio, a community called
the Bottom—is a place where people and natural
things are apt to go awry, to break from their prescribed boundaries, a place where bizarre and
unnatural happenings and strange reversals of the
ordinary are commonplace
...

The novel is ﬁlled with images of mutilation, both
psychological and physical
...
One of the major devices used by
the people of the Bottom is the seemingly universal one of creating a _______________; in this
case, the title character Sula—upon which to project both the evil they perceive outside themselves
and the evil in their own hearts
...
Is it positive, negative, or neutral?
Ask yourself, how might the author have spoken if he
or she had felt differently?
The English language premiere of Samuel
Beckett’s play Waiting for Godot took place in
London in August 1955
...

Godot, who never arrives) and a minimal setting: one rock and one bare tree
...
In a statement that was
to become famous, the critic, Vivian Mercer, has
described Godot as “a play in which nothing happens twice
...

The line, “Nothing happens, nobody comes,
nobody goes
...

____________________________________
...

349
...
scapegoat
b
...
leader
d
...
Which of the following provides the best deﬁnition of the term avant-garde as the author
intends it in the passage?
a
...
unintelligible
c
...
high-brow

351
...
The director, Peter Hall, had to beg the theater
management not to close the play immediately
but to wait for the Sunday reviews
...
Despite the audience reaction, the cast and
director believed in the play
...
It looked as if Waiting for Godot was beginning a long run as the most controversial
play of London’s 1955 season
...
Waiting for Godot was in danger of closing
the ﬁrst week of its run and of becoming
nothing more than a footnote in the annals
of the English stage
...
Which of the following best describes the attitude of the author of the passage toward the
play Waiting for Godot?
a
...

b
...

c
...

d
...

352
...
The 1955 production of Waiting for Godot
was the play’s ﬁrst performance
...
Waiting for Godot was written by Peter Hall
...
The sets and characters in Waiting for Godot
were typical of London stage productions
in the 1950s
...
Waiting for Godot was not ﬁrst performed
in English
...
The title of Campbell’s book, The Hero with a
Thousand Faces, is meant to convey
a
...

b
...

c
...

d
...

In his famous study of myth, The Hero with a
Thousand Faces, Joseph Campbell writes about
the archetypal hero who has ventured outside the
boundaries of the village and, after many trials
and adventures, has returned with the boon that
will save or enlighten his fellows
...

He likens the returning hero to the sacred or
tabooed personage described by James Frazier in
The Golden Bough
...
”
There is __________ between the archetypal hero who has journeyed into the wilderness
and the poet who has journeyed into the realm of
imagination
...
There are not only jewels but dangerous
jinn abide
...
Based on the passage, which of the following
best describes the story that will likely be told
by Campbell’s returning hero and Frazier’s
sacred or tabooed personage?
a
...
a story that will terrify people to no
good end
c
...
a story based on a dangerous lie
358
...
gift
b
...
charm
d
...
The phrase that would most accurately ﬁt into
the blank in the ﬁrst sentence of the second
paragraph is
a
...

b
...

c
...

d
...

359
...
wonderful
b
...
awesome
d
...
As depicted in the last sentence of the passage,
“Aladdin caves” are most likely to be found in
a
...

b
...

c
...

d
...

88

– PHILOSOPHY AND LITERATURE –

to the ear—another instant a whoop and a hurrah from our upper deck, a wave of the rider’s
hand, but no reply, and a man and a horse burst
past our excited faces, and go swinging away like
a belated fragment of a storm!

This is an excerpt from Mark Twain’s short story
“Roughing It
...

The little ﬂat mail-pockets strapped under the
rider’s thighs would each hold about the bulk of
a child’s primer
...
The stagecoach traveled about a hundred
to a hundred and twenty-ﬁve miles a day (twentyfour hours), the pony-rider about two hundred
and ﬁfty
...

We had a consuming desire, from the beginning, to see a pony-rider, but somehow or other
all that passed us and all that met us managed to
streak by in the night, and so we heard only a whiz
and a hail, and the swift phantom of the desert
was gone before we could get our heads out of the
windows
...
Presently the driver exclaims:
“HERE HE COMES!”
Every neck is stretched further, and every
eye strained wider
...
Well, I should
think so! In a second or two it becomes a horse
and rider, rising and falling, rising and falling,
rising and falling—sweeping toward us nearer
and nearer—growing more and more distinct,
more and more sharply deﬁned—nearer and still
nearer, and the ﬂutter of the hoofs comes faintly

361
...
indifference
b
...
bewilderment
d
...
The sighting of the pony-rider is told from
which viewpoint?
a
...
a passenger inside a stagecoach
c
...
a person picnicking
363
...
carry mail
...
have windows
...
travel by night
...
travel a different route from that of The
Pony Express
...
Which of the following is not supported by
the passage?
a
...

b
...

c
...

d
...

89

S E C T I O N

10

Longer Passages

T

he passages in this section are the ﬁnal test of your reading comprehension skills
...

You’ll ﬁnd that the longer passages in this section are the most difﬁcult of all the ones you have
read in this book so far, but at this point, you are more than ready for them
...
Some of the passages contain technical and scientiﬁc
information, much of it related to medicine
...
After that, go back
and read the passage one paragraph at a time
...
Notes or outlines may also help clarify the material for you
...

91

– LONGER PASSAGES –

For years, Mt
...
Recently though, Bar
Harbor has become a burgeoning arts community as well
...
Because the island sits on the boundary
line between the temperate and sub-Arctic
zones, the island supports the ﬂora and fauna of
both zones as well as beach, inland, and alpine
plants
...
The establishment of Acadia National Park in 1916 means
that this natural reserve will be perpetually available to all people, not just the wealthy
...
Or they may choose to
spend time at the archeological museum, learning about the Stone Age inhabitants of the
island
...
Desert Island is from
the top of Cadillac Mountain
...
From the summit, you
can gaze back toward the mainland or out over
the Atlantic Ocean and contemplate the beauty
created by a retreating glacier
...

The coast of the state of Maine is one of the most
irregular in the world
...
If you followed the coastline between these
points, you would travel more than ten times as
far
...
The term comes from the
glacial activity of the ice age
...
As
the glacier descended, however, it expended
enormous force on those mountains, and they
sank into the sea
...
The highest parts of
the former mountain range, nearest the shore,
remained as islands
...
Desert Island is one of
the most famous of all the islands left behind by
the glacier
...

The 2,500-mile-long rocky and jagged
coastline of Maine keeps watch over nearly two
thousand islands
...
Mt
...

Measuring 16 miles by 12 miles, Mt
...
It is
split almost in half by Somes Sound, a deep and
narrow stretch of water, seven miles long
...
According to the selection, the large number
of small islands along the coast of Maine are
the result of
a
...

b
...

c
...

d
...

365
...
Ice-age glacial activity
The Islands of Casco Bay
Formation of Cadillac Mountain
Summer residents of Mt
...
Formation of a drowned coastline
The topography of Mt
...
Desert Island
Tourist attractions on Mt
...
Mapping the Maine coastline
The arts community at Bar Harbor
History of the National Park System
Climbing Cadillac Mountain
d
...
Desert Island
The importance of biodiversity
Hiking in Acadia National Park

368
...
the continued existence of national parks is
threatened by budget cuts
...
the best way to preserve the environment
on Mt
...

c
...

d
...
Desert Island is the most interesting
tourist attraction in Maine
...
Which of the following statements best
expresses the main idea of the fourth paragraph of the selection?
a
...
Desert Island
selﬁshly kept it to themselves
...
Acadia National Park is one of the smallest
of the national parks
...
On Mt
...

d
...

Desert Island supports an incredibly diverse
animal and plant life
...
According to the selection, the coast of
Maine is
a
...

b
...

c
...

d
...

93

– LONGER PASSAGES –

Ten years later, James Starley, an English
inventor, made several innovations that revolutionized bicycle design
...

Although this bicycle was much lighter and less
tiring to ride, it was still clumsy, extremely topheavy, and ridden mostly for entertainment
...
Invented by
another Englishman, H
...
Lawson, the safety bicycle would look familiar to today’s cyclists
...
Lawson also
attached a chain to the pedals to drive the rear
wheel
...
With the
improvements provided by Lawson, bicycles
became extremely popular and useful for transportation
...

Today, bicycles are elegantly simple machines that
are common around the world
...
The ﬁrst bicycle, called
a draisienne, was invented in Germany in 1818 by
Baron Karl de Drais de Sauerbrun
...
Riders moved it by pushing
their feet against the ground
...

Macmillan’s machine had tires with iron rims to
keep them from getting worn down
...
It didn’t
look much like the modern bicycle, though,
because its back wheel was substantially larger
than its front wheel
...

In 1861, Frenchman Pierre Michaux and
his brother Ernest invented a bicycle with an
improved crank mechanism
...
Despite the unﬂattering nickname, the vélocipède was a hit
...

370
...
several people contributed to the development of the modern bicycle
...
only a few vélocipèdes built by the Michaux
family are still in existence
...
for most of the nineteenth century, few
people rode bicycles just for fun
...
bicycles with wheels of different sizes cannot be ridden easily
...
Read the following sentence from the fourth
paragraph:

371
...
H
...
Lawson
...
Kirkpatrick Macmillan
...
Pierre Michaux
...
James Starley
...

372
...
persuade readers to use bicycles for
transportation
...
describe the problems that bicycle
manufacturers encounter
...
compare bicycles used for fun with bicycles
used for transportation
...
tell readers a little about the history of the
bicycle
...
cancelled
...
changed drastically
...
became outdated
...
exercised control over
...
Which of the following statements from the
passage represents the writer’s opinion?
a
...

b
...

c
...

d
...

373
...
add weight to the bicycle
...
make the tires last longer
...
make the ride less bumpy
...
make the ride less tiring
...
A backdraft is a dangerous condition for ﬁreﬁghters mainly because
a
...

b
...

c
...

d
...

One of the most hazardous conditions a fireﬁghter will ever encounter is a backdraft (also
known as a smoke explosion)
...
Unburned carbon particles and other ﬂammable products, combined
with the intense heat, may cause instantaneous
combustion if more oxygen reaches the ﬁre
...
When there is a lack of oxygen during a
ﬁre, the smoke becomes ﬁlled with carbon dioxide or carbon monoxide and turns dense gray or
black
...

Proper ventilation will make a backdraft
less likely
...
However, suddenly breaking a
window or opening a door is a mistake, because
it allows oxygen to rush in, causing an explosion
...
Which of the following is NOT mentioned as
a potential backdraft warning sign?
a
...
ﬂames shooting up from the building
c
...
more intense heat than usual
378
...
carry an oxygen tank
...
open a door to allow gases to escape
...
make an opening at the top of the building
...
break a window to release carbon particles
...
When compared with a hot, smoldering ﬁre, a
ﬁre with visible, high-reaching ﬂames
a
...

b
...

c
...

d
...

96

– LONGER PASSAGES –

380
...
get salt into the victim’s body
...
raise the victim’s feet
...
lower the victim’s pulse
...
lower the victim’s temperature
...
Heat reactions usually occur when large amounts of
water and/or salt are lost through excessive
sweating following strenuous exercise
...

Heat exhaustion is generally characterized
by clammy skin, fatigue, nausea, dizziness, profuse
perspiration, and sometimes fainting, resulting
from an inadequate intake of water and the loss
of ﬂuids
...

Heat stroke is much more serious; it is an
immediate life-threatening situation
...
Victims of this condition may be
unconscious, and ﬁrst-aid measures should be
directed at quickly cooling the body
...
Fans or air
conditioners will also help with the cooling
process
...

381
...
unconsciousness
b
...
hot, dry skin
d
...
Heat stroke is more serious than heat exhaustion because heat stroke victims
a
...

b
...

c
...

d
...

383
...
be immediately taken to a hospital
...
be given more salt water
...
be immersed in a tub of water
...
sweat more
...
This
inherited familial tendency to have allergic reactions includes increased sensitivity to allergens
that are risk factors for developing asthma
...
Additionally, asthma may be triggered by
viral respiratory infections, especially in children
...
A few avoidance techniques
include: keeping the home clean and well ventilated, using an air conditioner in the summer
months when pollen and mold counts are high,
and getting an annual inﬂuenza vaccination
...
Cigar, cigarette, or pipe smoke
is a trigger whether the patient smokes or inhales
the smoke from others
...
Many of the risk
factors for developing asthma may also provoke
asthma attacks, and people with asthma may have
one or more triggers, which vary from individual
to individual
...
Most exacerbations can be prevented by
the combination of avoiding triggers and taking
anti-inﬂammatory medications
...
However,
asthma patients should not necessarily avoid all
physical exertion, because some types of activity
have been proven to reduce symptoms
...

Remember that much scientiﬁc and technical writing
deals with cold, hard, explicit facts
...

No longer is asthma considered a condition with
isolated, acute episodes of bronchospasm
...
When these hyperresponsive airways are
irritated, airﬂow is limited, and attacks of coughing, wheezing, chest tightness, and breathing
difﬁculty occur
...
The interactions
result in airflow limitation from acute bronchoconstriction, swelling of the airway wall,
increased mucus secretion, and airway remodeling
...
During an asthma attack,
the patient attempts to compensate by breathing
at a higher lung volume in order to keep the air
ﬂowing through the constricted airways, and the
greater the airway limitation, the higher the lung
volume must be to keep airways open
...
Key
effector cells in the inﬂammatory response are the
mast cells, T lymphocytes, and eosinophils
...

Other changes include mucus plugging of the
airways, interstitial edema, and microvascular
leakage
...
In addition, there may be hypertrophy and hyperplasia of airway smooth muscle,
increase in goblet cell number, and enlargement
of submucous glands
...
Which of the following would be the best
replacement for the underlined word exacerbations in this passage?
a
...
attacks
c
...
allergens

In order to diagnose asthma, a healthcare
professional must appreciate the underlying disorder that leads to asthma symptoms and
understand how to recognize the condition
through information gathered from the patient’s
history, physical examination, measurements of
lung function, and allergic status
...
Clinical signs are more
likely to be present when a patient is experiencing symptoms; however, the absence of symptoms upon examination does not exclude the
diagnosis of asthma
...
The passage mentions all of the following
bodily changes during an asthma attack
EXCEPT
a
...

b
...

c
...

d
...

384
...
interstitial edema
b
...
hypertrophy
d
...
Although it is surprising, which of the following triggers is mentioned in the passage as
possibly reducing the symptoms of asthma in
some patients?
a
...
exposure to second-hand cigarette smoke
c
...
performing physical exercise

385
...
to prevent the loss of consciousness
b
...
to prevent hyperplasia
d
...
Why might a patient with asthma have an
apparently normal respiratory system during
an examination by a doctor?
a
...

b
...

c
...

d
...

386
...
a result of the overuse of tobacco products
b
...
mysterious, unrelated attacks affecting
the lungs
d
...
Who might be the most logical audience for
this passage?
a
...
healthcare professionals
c
...
an antismoking activist
392
...
A smoke-ﬁlled room is a breeding ground
for viral respiratory infections
...
Smoke can stunt an asthmatic child’s growth
...
Smoke can heighten the intensity of
asthma symptoms
...
Breathing smoke can lead to a fatal
asthma attack
...
More than 90% of
those afflicted are adolescents or young adult
women
...

People who intentionally starve themselves
(even while experiencing severe hunger pains)
suffer from anorexia nervosa
...

Many people with the disorder look emaciated
but are convinced they are overweight
...

To protect itself, the body shifts into slow gear:
Menstrual periods stop, blood pressure rates
drop, and thyroid function slows
...
Dehydration
contributes to constipation, and reduced body fat
leads to lowered body temperature and the inabil-

100

ity to withstand cold
...

Anorexia nervosa sufferers can exhibit sudden angry outbursts or become socially withdrawn
...
Clinical depression and anxiety place many individuals with eating disorders at risk for suicidal behavior
...

Some use a combination of all these forms of
purging
...
Dieting
heavily between episodes of binging and purging
is common
...
But bulimia
nervosa patients—even those of normal weight—
can severely damage their bodies by frequent binge
eating and purging
...
Vomiting can cause the esophagus
to become inﬂamed and glands near the cheeks to
become swollen
...
Psychological effects include compulsive stealing as well
as possible indications of obsessive-compulsive
disorder, an illness characterized by repetitive
thoughts and behaviors
...

As with anorexia nervosa, bulimia typically begins
during adolescence
...
The condition occurs most often in women but is also
found in men
...
As many as one-third
of this group are men
...
Recent
research shows that binge-eating disorder occurs
in about 30% of people participating in medically supervised weight-control programs
...
Individuals with binge-eating
disorder feel that they lose control of themselves
when eating
...
Most sufferers are overweight or obese and
have a history of weight ﬂuctuations
...
Obese individuals also have a higher risk for gallbladder disease, heart disease, and some types of cancer
...
Like anorexic and
bulimic sufferers who exhibit psychological
problems, individuals with binge-eating disorder
have high rates of simultaneously occurring psychiatric illnesses, especially depression
...
Fatalities occur in what percent of people with
anorexia nervosa?
a
...
10%
c
...
30%

394
...
heart ailments
b
...
swollen joints
d
...
According to the passage, people with bingeeating disorder are prone to all of the following EXCEPT
a
...

b
...

c
...

d
...

396
...
People with anorexia nervosa commonly
have a blood-related deﬁciency
...
People with anorexia nervosa perceive
themselves as overweight
...
The female population is the primary
group affected by eating disorders
...
Fifty percent of people with bulimia have
had anorexia nervosa
...
People who have an eating disorder but nevertheless appear to be of normal weight are most
likely to have
a
...

b
...

c
...

d
...

398
...
lowering body temperatures
...
excessive thirst and urination
...
protective measures taken by the body
...
the loss of essential minerals
...
Over the last
decade, a growing number of racers have been
adopted to spend their retirement as household
pets, once their racing careers are over
...
Actually, even champion racers only work until they are about three-and-ahalf years old
...

People worry that a greyhound will be more
nervous and active than other breeds and will
need a large space to run
...
Greyhounds have naturally sweet, mild dispositions, and while they love to run, they are
sprinters rather than distance runners and are
sufﬁciently exercised with a few daily laps around
a fenced-in backyard
...
They are intelligent, well-behaved dogs, usually housebroken in
only a few days
...

399
...
dehydration
...
an inﬂamed esophagus
...
the abuse of laxatives
...
weight-control programs
...
According to the passage, which of the
following is true of bulimia patients?
a
...

b
...

c
...

d
...

401
...
older males
b
...
younger males
d
...
One drawback of adopting a greyhound is that
a
...

b
...

c
...

d
...

402
...
teach prospective owners how to transform
their racing greyhound into a good pet
...
show how the greyhound’s nature makes it
equally good as racer and pet
...
encourage people to adopt retired racing
greyhounds
...
objectively present the pros and cons of
adopting a racing greyhound
...
This passage is most like an advertisement
because it
a
...

b
...

c
...

d
...

403
...
do not have children
...
live in apartments
...
do not usually like dogs
...
already have another dog or a cat
...
Which of the following is implied by the passage?
a
...

b
...

c
...

d
...

103

407
...
happy to be retiring
...
easily housebroken
...
a champion, or else it would have been
euthanized
...
less high-strung than those that are not
available for adoption
...
They believed that the world existed in a
condition of opposites
...
The Greeks believed that good eris occured
when one held a balanced outlook on life and
coped with problems as they arose
...
Bad
eris was evident in the violent conditions that
ruled men’s lives
...
The Ancient Greeks saw
eris as a goddess: Eris, the Goddess of Discord,
better known as Trouble
...
Zeus, the supreme
ruler, learns that Thetis would bear a child strong
enough to destroy its father
...
He promises her,
among other things, the greatest wedding in all of
Heaven and Earth and allows the couple to invite
whomever they please
...
They do
invite everyone
...
In other words, instead of facing the
problems brought on by a mixed marriage, they
turn their backs on them
...
In her fury, Eris arrives, ruins the wedding,
causes a jealous feud between the three major
goddesses over a golden apple, and sets in place
the conditions that lead to the Trojan War
...
Eris would destroy
the parents’ hopes for their future, leaving the
couple with no legitimate heirs to the throne
...
with a vengeance! It is easy to see
why the Greeks considered many of their myths
learning myths, for this one teaches us the best
way to defeat that which can destroy us
...
According to the passage, the ancient
Greeks believed that the concept of eris
deﬁned the universe
a
...

b
...

c
...

d
...

– LONGER PASSAGES –

409
...
the violent conditions of life
...
the problems man encounters
...
the evil goddess who has a golden apple
...
the murderer of generations
...
According to the passage, Achilles
a
...

b
...

c
...

d
...

410
...
he needed to buy the loyalty of a great king
of mankind
...
he feared the gods would create bad eris by
competing over her
...
he feared the Trojan War would be fought
over her
...
he feared having an affair with her and,
subsequently, a child by her
...
Which of the following statements is the message offered in the myth?
a
...

b
...

c
...

d
...

411
...
he knew that the child could not climb
Mt
...

b
...

c
...

d
...

105

– LONGER PASSAGES –

She was one of those pretty, charming women
who are born, as if by an error of Fate, into a
petty official’s family
...

Unable to afford jewels, she dressed simply:
But she was wretched, for women have neither
caste nor breeding—in them beauty, grace, and
charm replace pride of birth
...

She suffered, feeling that every luxury should
rightly have been hers
...
All these things that
another woman of her class would not even have
noticed, made her angry
...
She
dreamt of rooms with Oriental hangings, lighted by
tall, bronze torches, and with two huge footmen in
knee breeches made drowsy by the heat from the
stove, asleep in the wide armchairs
...

She sat down to dinner at her round table
with its three-day-old cloth, and watched her husband lift the lid of the soup tureen and delightedly
exclaim:“Ah, a good homemade beef stew! There’s
nothing better!” She visualized elegant dinners
with gleaming silver and gorgeous china
...
She
dreamt of eating the pink ﬂesh of trout or the
wings of grouse
...
And those were the only things
that she loved—she felt she was made for them
...

1 dowry:

property a woman brought to her husband in marriage
...

106

414
...
destitute
b
...
comfortable
d
...
Which line best demonstrates the couple’s true
economic standing?
a
...

b
...

c
...

d
...

416
...
She married but was ashamed of the
insigniﬁcant position her husband held
...
She married on the rebound after a wealthy
suitor had abandoned her
...
She married for love without realizing the
consequences to her social standing
...
She never loved her husband
...
What can be inferred about the values of both
husband and wife?
a
...

b
...

c
...

d
...

418
...
to have the reader feel great sympathy for
the wife
...
to have the reader feel great sympathy for
the husband
...
to show the class distinctions that were so
obvious during the setting of the story
...
to show the reader how selﬁsh and selfcentered the wife is
...
What part of speech does de Maupassant
employ to weave the rich images he presents
through the wife’s descriptions?
a
...
adverbs
c
...
verbs

107

– LONGER PASSAGES –

Arteries of the heart blocked by plaque can
reduce the ﬂow of blood to the heart possibly
resulting in heart attack or death
...
The arteries of the heart are
small and can be blocked by such accumulations
...
It is
called coronary balloon angioplasty
...
” When the balloon is
inﬂated, it compresses the plaque against the wall
of the artery, creating more space and improving
the ﬂow of blood
...

Yes, both involve entering the body cavity, but in
bypass surgery, the chest must be opened, the
ribs must be cut, and the section of diseased
artery must be removed and replaced
...
Usually, this
blood vessel is removed from an artery located in
the calf of the leg
...
There is far more risk in such bypass surgery
than in angioplasty, which involves threading a
thin tube, called a catheter, into the circulatory
system and working it to the damaged artery
...
It begins with a distinctive
dye that is injected into the bloodstream
...
The doctor monitors the
path of the dye using x-rays
...
He inflates the balloon, creating more
space, deﬂates the balloon, and removes the tube
...
Sometimes, a stent may be
implanted, a tiny tube of stainless steel that is
expandable when necessary
...

There is good news and there is bad news
...
Ninety percent of all angioplasty procedures are successful
...
The risk of
heart attack is also small: 3–5%
...
The length of hospitalization
is only three days
...
First,
this procedure treats the condition but does not
eradicate the cause
...
Second, angioplasty is
not recommended for all patients
...

420
...
stroke
...
heart attack
...
hospitalization
...
femoral artery deterioration
...
It can be inferred from the passage that
a
...

b
...

c
...

d
...

421
...
a tiny balloon
...
a plaque-laden artery
...
blood vessel repair
...
bypass surgery
...
It can be inferred from the passage that invasive
most closely means
a
...

b
...

c
...

d
...

425
...
The plaque that has caused the problem is
not removed during angioplasty
...
The risk of dying during an angioplasty
procedure is 3–5%
...
The coronary balloon angioplasty is a separate procedure from inﬂating a balloon into
a blocked artery
...
All of the above statements are true
...
The angioplasty procedure begins with
a
...

b
...

c
...

d
...

109

– LONGER PASSAGES –

The next passages are typical of those you might
find in textbooks
...

(1) For centuries, time was measured by the position of the sun with the use of sundials
...
Daylight Saving Time (DST), sometimes called summer time,
was instituted to make better use of daylight
...

(2) Benjamin Franklin ﬁrst conceived the
idea of daylight saving during his tenure as an
American delegate in Paris in 1984 and wrote
about it extensively in his essay, “An Economical
Project
...
Always the economist, Franklin
believed the practice of moving the time could
save on the use of candlelight, as candles were
expensive at the time
...
Willet believed everyone, including
himself, would appreciate longer hours of light
in the evenings
...
A bill was
drafted and introduced into Parliament several
times but met with great opposition, mostly from
farmers
...

(4) The U
...
Congress passed the Standard
Time Act of 1918 to establish standard time and
preserve and set Daylight Saving Time across the
continent
...
The ﬁrst time zone
was set on “the mean astronomical time of the
seventy-ﬁfth degree of longitude west from Greenwich”(England)
...

(5) President Roosevelt established yearround Daylight Saving Time (also called War
Time) from 1942–1945
...
In 1966, President Lyndon Johnson created the Department of
Transportation and signed the Uniform Time
Act
...

During the oil embargo and energy crisis of the
1970s, President Richard Nixon extended DST
through the Daylight Saving Time Energy Act of
1973 to conserve energy further
...

– LONGER PASSAGES –

430
...
The History and Rationale of Daylight Saving Time
b
...
The U
...
Department of Transportation
and Daylight Saving Time
d
...
As it is used in paragraph 3, the word
obligatory most nearly means
a
...

b
...

c
...

d
...

427
...
President Richard Nixon
b
...
Sir Robert Pearce
d
...
The Daylight Saving Time Energy Act of 1973
was responsible for
a
...

b
...

c
...

d
...

428
...
Sir Robert Pearce
b
...
television and radio broadcasting companies
d
...
S
...
Which of the following statements is true of
the U
...
Department of Transportation?
a
...

b
...

c
...

d
...

111

– LONGER PASSAGES –

(1) Milton Hershey was born near the small village of Derry Church, Pennsylvania, in 1857
...
Milton only attended school
through the fourth grade; at that point, he was
apprenticed to a printer in a nearby town
...
After a while, he left the printing business and was apprenticed to a Lancaster, Pennsylvania candy maker
...
In
spite of his talents as a candy maker, the shop
failed after six years
...
After the
failure of his Philadelphia store, Milton headed
for Denver, where he learned the art of making
caramels
...
After a time in Denver, Milton once again attempted to open his own
candy-making businesses, in Chicago, New
Orleans, and New York City
...
This company—
the Lancaster Caramel Company—established
Milton’s reputation as a master candy maker
...
Captivated by the equipment, he purchased it for his
Lancaster candy factory and began producing
chocolate, which he used for coating his caramels
...
The
Hershey Chocolate company was born in 1894 as
a subsidiary of the Lancaster Caramel Company
...
He believed that a large market
of chocolate consumers was waiting for someone
to produce reasonably priced candy
...

(4) Milton Hershey returned to the village
where he had been born, in the heart of dairy
country, and opened his chocolate manufacturing
plant
...

The plant that opened in a small Pennsylvania village in 1905 is today the largest chocolate factory
in the world
...

(5) The area where the factory is located is
now known as Hershey, Pennsylvania
...
A bank, a
school, churches, a department store, even a park
and a trolley system all appeared in short order;
the town soon even had a zoo
...
All of these
things—and a huge number of happy chocolate
lovers—were made possible because a caramel
maker visited the Chicago Exposition of 1893!
432
...
Chocolate is popular in every country in
the world
...
Reeses Peanut Butter Cups are manufactured by the Hershey Chocolate Company
...
Chocolate had never been manufactured in
the United States before Milton Hershey did it
...
The Hershey Chocolate Company now
makes more money from Hershey’s Chocolate World than from the manufacture and
sale of chocolate
...
Which of the following best deﬁnes the word
subsidiary as used in paragraph 3?
a
...
a company founded to support another
company
c
...
a company controlled by another company
434
...
recount the founding of the Hershey
Chocolate Company
...
describe the process of manufacturing
chocolate
...
compare the popularity of chocolate to
other candies
...
explain how apprenticeships work
...
According to the passage, Milton Hershey sold
his caramel company in
a
...

b
...

c
...

d
...

436
...
the exposition in Chicago is held once every
three years
...
the theme of the exposition of 1893 was
“Food from Around the World
...
the exposition contained displays from a
variety of countries
...
the site of the exposition is now a branch of
the Hershey Chocolate Company
...
Which of the following words best ﬁts in the
blank in paragraph 1 of the passage?
a
...
modest
c
...
rewarding

113

(1) By using tiny probes as neural prostheses, scientists may be able to restore nerve function in
quadriplegics and make the blind see or the deaf
hear
...
Preliminary results suggest that the
microprobe telemetry systems can be permanently
implanted and replace damaged or missing nerves
...
Researchers accumulate
much data using traditional electrodes, but
there is a question of how much damage they
cause to the nervous system
...

(3) In addition to recording nervous-system
impulses, the microprobes have minuscule channels that open the way for delivery of drugs, cellular
growth factors, neurotransmitters, and other neuroactive compounds to a single neuron or to
groups of neurons
...

The probes can have up to four channels, each
with its own recording/stimulating electrode
...
One similar feature of microprobes and wire
electrodes is
a
...

b
...

c
...

d
...

– LONGER PASSAGES –

(1) Medical waste has been a growing concern
because of recent incidents of public exposure to
discarded blood vials, needles (sharps), empty
prescription bottles, and syringes
...

(2) Wastes are generally collected by gravity
chutes, carts, or pneumatic tubes, each of which
has its own advantages and disadvantages
...
Another disadvantage of gravity chutes is that the waste container may get jammed while dropping, or it may
be broken upon hitting the bottom
...
The main risk here is that bags
may be broken or torn during transport, potentially exposing the worker to the wastes
...
Pneumatic tubes offer the best performance for waste transport in a large facility
...
However,
some objects cannot be conveyed pneumatically
...
Some preliminary on-site processing, such as compaction
or hydropulping, may be necessary prior to sending the waste off site
...
Which of the following best expresses the
main idea of the passage?
a
...

b
...

c
...

d
...

440
...
transportation of medication
...
induction of physical movement
...
transportation of growth factor
...
removal of biochemicals from the cortex
...
The initial function of microprobe channels
is to
a
...

b
...

c
...

d
...

114

– LONGER PASSAGES –

portation and disposal costs, but it does not
change the hazardous characteristics of the waste
...

(4) Hydropulping involves grinding the
waste in the presence of an oxidizing ﬂuid, such
as hypochlorite solution
...
The pulp can often
be disposed of at a landﬁll
...
Disadvantages are
the added operating burden, difﬁculty of controlling fugitive emissions, and the difﬁculty of
conducting microbiological tests to determine
whether all organic matters and infectious organisms have been destroyed from the waste
...
Common treatment techniques include steam sterilization and incineration
...

(6) Steam sterilization is limited in the types
of medical waste it can treat, but is appropriate for
laboratory cultures and/or substances contaminated with infectious organisms
...
The liquid that may form is drained off to the
sewer or sent for processing
...
One advantage of steam

115

sterilization is that it has been used for many
years in hospitals to sterilize instruments and
containers and to treat small quantities of waste
...

(7) A properly designed, maintained, and
operated incinerator achieves a relatively high
level of organism destruction
...
The most common incineration system for medical waste is the
controlled-air type
...
Rotary-kiln and grate-type units have been
used, but use of grate-type units has been discontinued because of high air emissions
...

442
...
chronological order
b
...
order by topic
d
...
One disadvantage of the compaction method
of waste disposal is that it
a
...

b
...

c
...

d
...

– LONGER PASSAGES –

444
...
incineration
...
compaction
...
sterilization
...
hydropulping
...
The process that transforms waste from hazardous to harmless and diminishes waste volume is
a
...

b
...

c
...

d
...

445
...
hydropulped material
b
...
incinerated waste
d
...
The underlined word exhausting, as it is used
in the second paragraph of the passage, most
nearly means
a
...

b
...

c
...

d
...

446
...
compaction and hydropulping
...
incineration and compaction
...
hydropulping and sterilization
...
sterilization and incineration
...
Budgetary constraints have precluded some
small hospitals from purchasing
a
...

b
...

c
...

d
...

447
...
steam sterilization and incineration
...
hydropulping and steam sterilization
...
incineration and compaction
...
hydropulping and incineration
...
The underlined phrase fugitive emissions in the
fourth paragraph most nearly means
a
...

b
...

c
...

d
...

448
...
a manual cart to a gravity chute
...
an automated cart to a hydropulping
machine
...
a gravity chute to a manual cart
...
a manual cart to an automated cart
...
Then go back and look
at the sentences before and after them—that is, in their
immediate context
...
At its lowest depth
(1932–33), more than 16 million people were
unemployed, more than 5,000 banks had closed,
and over 85,000 businesses had failed
...
The homeless built shacks for temporary shelter—these emerging shantytowns
were nicknamed Hoovervilles; a bitter homage to
President Herbert Hoover, who refused to give
government assistance to the jobless
...

(2) Although the stock market crash of 1929
marked the onset of the depression, it was not the
cause of it: Deep, underlying fissures already
existed in the economy of the Roaring Twenties
...
American banks made loans to
European countries following World War I
...
These policies
worked against one another
...

117

(3) And while the United States seemed to
be enjoying a prosperous period in the 1920s, the
wealth was not evenly distributed
...
Workers received only a small share
of the wealth they helped produce
...

Advertising encouraged Americans to buy cars,
radios, and household appliances instead of saving or purchasing only what they could afford
...
Investors also wildly
speculated on the stock market, often borrowing
money on credit to buy shares of a company
...
This bubble burst in the fall of 1929, when
investors lost conﬁdence that stock prices would
keep rising
...
The stock market crash
affected the economy in the same way that a
stressful event can affect the human body, lowering its resistance to infection
...
Roosevelt in 1932
...
In his 100 days in ofﬁce, Roosevelt and
Congress passed major legislation that saved
banks from closing and regained public conﬁdence
...
Although the New Deal offered
relief, it did not end the Depression
...
However, the New Deal changed the relationship between government and American citizens, by expanding the role of the central
government in regulating the economy and creating social assistance programs
...
The author’s main point about the Great
Depression is that
a
...

b
...

c
...

d
...
Roosevelt ended it
...
The term policies, as it is used in paragraph 2,
most nearly means
a
...

b
...

c
...

d
...

457
...
thrift
...
prudence
...
balance
...
extravagance
...
The example of the human body as a
metaphor for the economy, which is found at
the end of paragraph 3, suggests that
a
...

b
...

c
...

d
...

454
...
an account of the causes and effects of a
major event
...
a statement supporting the value of federal
social policies
...
a condemnation of outdated beliefs
...
a polite response to controversial issues
...
The content in the last paragraph of the passage would most likely support which of the
following statements?
a
...

b
...

c
...

d
...

455
...
federally sponsored housing programs
...
the resilience of Americans who lost their
jobs, savings, and homes
...
the government’s unwillingness to assist
citizens in desperate circumstances
...
the effectiveness of the Hoover administration in dealing with the crisis
...
It protects the planet from
the cold of space, from harmful ultraviolet light,
and from all but the largest meteors
...

Solar radiation in combination with the planet’s
rotation causes the atmosphere to circulate
...

(2) The equatorial region is the warmest part
of the earth because it receives the most direct and,
therefore, strongest solar radiation
...
Earth’s axis is inclined 23ᎏ1ᎏ degrees with
3
respect to the ecliptic
...
On or about June
ᎏ
21 each year,the sun reaches the Tropic of Cancer,23ᎏ1
3
degrees north latitude
...
On
or about December 21 of each year, the sun
reaches the Tropic of Capricorn, 23ᎏ1ᎏ degrees south
3
latitude
...
The polar regions
are the coldest parts of the earth because they
receive the least direct and, therefore, the weakest
solar radiation
...
A static envelope of air surrounding the earth would produce an extremely
hot, uninhabitable equatorial region, while the
polar regions would remain inhospitably cold
...
When
water evaporates into the air and becomes water
vapor, it absorbs energy
...
As this
moist air approaches the polar regions, it cools
and sinks back to earth
...
The now-dry
polar air ﬂows back toward the equator to repeat
the convection cycle
...

(4) The circulation of the atmosphere and
the weather it generates is but one example of the
many complex, interdependent events of nature
...
Global warming, the hole in the atmosphere’s ozone layer, and increasing air and water
pollution pose serious, long-term threats to the
biosphere
...

460
...
The circulation of atmosphere, threatened by
global warming and pollution, protects the
biosphere and makes life on Earth possible
...
If the protective atmosphere around the
earth is too damaged by human activity, all
life on Earth will cease
...
Life on Earth is the result of complex interdependent events of nature, and some of these
events are a result of human intervention
...
The circulation of atmosphere is the single
most important factor in keeping the biosphere alive, and it is constantly threatened
by harmful human activity
...
Which of the following best represents the
organization of the passage?
a
...
Deﬁnition and description of the
circulation of the atmosphere
II
...
How the circulation of the atmosphere
works
IV
...
I
...
How the circulation of the atmosphere
affects the equator and the poles
III
...
Threats to life in the biosphere
c
...
Deﬁnition and description of the
circulation of the atmosphere
II
...
Relationship of the circulation of the
atmosphere to other life-sustaining
mechanisms
IV
...
I
...

II
...
How the atmosphere interrelates with
weather in the biosphere
IV
...
Which of the following is the best deﬁnition of
the underlined word biosphere as it is used in
the passage?
a
...
that part of the earth and its atmosphere in
which life can exist
c
...
the circulation of the atmosphere’s contribution to life on Earth
463
...
The equatorial region is the warmest part of
the earth because it receives the most direct
and, therefore, strongest solar radiation
...
The circulation of the atmosphere and the
weather it generates is but one example of
the many complex, interdependent events
of nature
...
[The atmosphere] protects Earth from the
cold of space, from harmful ultraviolet
light, and from all but the largest meteors
...
A static envelope of air surrounding the earth
would produce an extremely hot, uninhabitable equatorial region, while the polar
regions would remain inhospitably cold
...
Based on the passage, which of the following is
directly responsible for all temperature
changes on Earth?
a
...
variations in the amount of ultraviolet light
c
...
variation in global warming
465
...
its sheltering effect
b
...
its invigorating effect
d
...
Between
90–95% of the estimated 13–14 million people
in the United States with diabetes have noninsulin-dependent, or Type II, diabetes
...
Its symptoms often develop gradually
and are hard to identify at first; therefore, nearly
half of all people with diabetes do not know
they have it
...
This can be particularly
dangerous because untreated diabetes can cause
damage to the heart, blood vessels, eyes, kidneys, and nerves
...

121

(2) Most importantly, both types affect the
body’s ability to use digested food for energy
...
After a meal, the normal
digestive system breaks some food down into
glucose
...
In response to this rise, the hormone
insulin is released into the bloodstream and signals the body tissues to metabolize or burn the
glucose for fuel, which causes blood glucose levels to return to normal
...

(3) In both types of diabetes, however, this
normal process malfunctions
...
In people with insulin-dependent diabetes, the pancreas does not produce insulin at all
...
These patients must have daily insulin
injections to survive
...

(4) Insulin resistance is an important factor
in non-insulin-dependent diabetes, and scientists are searching for the causes of insulin resistance
...
The
ﬁrst is that there could be a defect in the insulin
receptors on cells
...
Several
things can go wrong with receptors
...
The second possible cause of insulin resistance is that, although
insulin may bind to the receptors, the cells do
not read the signal to metabolize the glucose
...

(5) There’s no cure for diabetes yet
...
In
1986, a National Institute of Health panel of
experts recommended that the best treatment
for non-insulin-dependent diabetes is a diet that
helps one maintain a normal weight and pays
particular attention to a proper balance of the
different food groups
...
Foods that are rich
in carbohydrates, like breads, cereals, fruits, and
vegetables, break down into glucose during
digestion, causing blood glucose to rise
...
A doctor or nutritionist should always be
consulted for more of this kind of information
and for help in planning a diet to offset the effects
of this form of diabetes
...
According to the passage, what may be the
most dangerous aspect of Type II diabetes?
a
...

b
...

c
...

d
...

467
...
treatments
b
...
short-term effects
d
...
According to the passage, one place in which
excess glucose is stored is the
a
...

b
...

c
...

d
...

469
...
protein
b
...
carbohydrates
d
...
According to the passage, in normal individuals, which of the following processes occur
immediately after the digestive system converts some food into glucose?
a
...

b
...

c
...

d
...

470
...
It signals tissues to metabolize sugar
...
It breaks down food into glucose
...
It carries glucose throughout the body
...
It binds to receptors
...
Which of the following statements best summarizes the main theme of the passage?
a
...

b
...

c
...

d
...

474
...
They do not need to be treated with injections of insulin
...
They comprise the majority of people with
diabetes
...
Their pancreases do not produce insulin
...
They are usually diagnosed as adults
...
Which of the following is mentioned in the
passage as a possible problem with insulin
receptors in insulin-resistant individuals?
a
...

b
...

c
...

d
...

123

475
...
counteract
b
...
soothe
d
...
The success of the immune system in
defending the body relies on a dynamic regulatory
communications network consisting of millions
and millions of cells
...
The
result is a sensitive system of checks and balances
that produces an immune response that is
prompt, appropriate, effective, and self-limiting
...

When immune defenders encounter cells or
organisms carrying foreign or non-self molecules, the immune troops move quickly to eliminate the intruders
...
The body’s immune defenses do not normally attack tissues that carry a self-marker
...

When a normally functioning immune system
attacks a non-self molecule, the system has the
ability to remember the speciﬁcs of the foreign
body
...
With the possible exception of antibodies passed during lactation, this so-called
immune system memory is not inherited
...

Learning entails producing the appropriate molecules and cells to match up with and counteract
each non-self invader
...
Antigens

124

are not to be confused with allergens, which are
most often harmless substances (such as ragweed
pollen or cat hair) that provoke the immune system to set off the inappropriate and harmful
response known as allergy
...

Tissues or cells from another individual (except
an identical twin, whose cells carry identical selfmarkers) also act as antigens; because the
immune system recognizes transplanted tissues as
foreign, it rejects them
...
An antigen
announces its foreignness by means of intricate
and characteristic shapes called epitopes, which
protrude from its surface
...
Some epitopes will be
more effective than others at stimulating an
immune response
...
The result can be a so-called autoimmune
disease such as rheumatoid arthritis or systemic
lupus erythematosis
...

476
...
the immune system’s memory
b
...
bees swarming around a hive
d
...
Which of the following best expresses the
main idea of this passage?
a
...

b
...

c
...

d
...

477
...
equilibrium
...
self-tolerance
...
harmony
...
tolerance
...
What is the speciﬁc term for the substance
capable of triggering an inappropriate or
harmful immune response to a harmless substance such as ragweed pollen?
a
...
microbe
c
...
autoimmune disease

482
...
The age of the twins’ tissue would be the
same and, therefore, less likely to be
rejected
...
The identical twin’s tissue would carry the
same self-markers and would, therefore, be
less likely to be rejected
...
The difference in the sex of the father and
daughter would cause the tissue to be
rejected by the daughter’s immune system
...
The twins’ immune systems would remember the same encounters with childhood
illnesses
...
How do the cells in the immune system recognize an antigen as foreign or non-self?
a
...
through blood type
c
...
through characteristic shapes on the antigen surface
480
...
prevent your offspring from infection by
the chicken pox virus
...
distinguish between your body cells and
that of the chicken pox virus
...
remember previous experiences with the
chicken pox virus
...
match up and counteract non-self molecules in the form of the chicken pox virus
...
What is the meaning of the underlined word
intricacies as it is used in the ﬁrst sentence of
the passage?
a
...
confusion of pathways
c
...
comprehensive coverage

125

– LONGER PASSAGES –

(1) An upsurge of new research suggests that animals have a much higher level of brainpower than
previously thought
...
Instinct is not intelligence
...
Rote conditioning is also not
intelligence
...
Cuing, in which
animals learn to do or not to do certain things by
following outside signals, does not demonstrate
intelligence
...

(2) When judging animal intelligence, scientists look for insight, which they deﬁne as a
ﬂash of sudden understanding
...
She piled the crates into a pyramid, then
climbed on them to reach her reward
...

(3) The ability to use tools is also an important sign of intelligence
...
The crow exhibits intelligence by showing it has learned what a stick can
do
...
In a series of
complex moves, chimpanzees have been known
to use sticks and stalks in order to get at a favorite
snack—termites
...
He
trims and shapes the stick, then ﬁnds the entrance
to a termite mound
...
The chimp
attracts the insects by shaking the twig
...
Finally, he uses his lips to skim the termites into his mouth
...
Some primates
have learned hundreds of words in sign language
...
These
symbols represent human words
...
He can understand the difference between
the number, color, and kind of object
...
He seems to
use language to express his needs and emotions
...

“Come here!” he cried to a scientist who works
with him
...
I’m sorry
...
If animals are
smarter than once thought, would that change
the way humans interact with them? Would
humans stop hunting them for sport or survival?
Would animals still be used for food, clothing, or
medical experimentation? Finding the answer to
these tough questions makes a difﬁcult puzzle
even for a large-brained, problem-solving species
like our own
...
Crows use sticks to pry peanuts out of cracks
...
rote learning
b
...
communication
d
...
Which of the following is NOT a sign of animal intelligence?
a
...
cues
c
...
makes a plan

485
...
an increasingly large amount
...
a decreasing amount
...
a well-known amount
...
an immeasurable amount
...
The concluding paragraph of this passage
infers which of the following?
a
...

b
...

c
...

d
...

487
...
Parrots can imitate or repeat a sound
...
Dolphins click and whistle
...
Crows screech warnings to other crows
...
Chimpanzees and gorillas have been
trained to use sign language or geometric
shapes that stand for words
...
In paragraph 3, what conclusion can be
reached about the chimpanzee’s ability to
use a tool?
a
...

b
...

c
...

d
...

127

(1) Glaciers consist of fallen snow that compresses
over many years into large, thickened ice masses
...
Presently,
10% of land area is covered with glaciers
...
Almost 90% of an
iceberg is below water; only about 10% shows
above water
...
Due to sheer mass, glaciers ﬂow
like very slow rivers
...

(2) Within the past 750,000 years, scientists
know that there have been eight Ice Age cycles,
separated by warmer periods called interglacial
periods
...
This is part of the
normal climate variation cycle
...
Although glaciers
change very slowly over long periods, they may
provide important global climate change signals
...
Once a mass of compressed ice reaches a
critical thickness of about 18 meters thick, it
becomes so heavy that it begins to deform and
move
...
Movement along the underside of a glacier is slower

– LONGER PASSAGES –

than movement at the top due to the friction created as it slides along the ground’s surface
...
However, some found near
cities or towns present a danger to the people living nearby
...

At the narrow part of a valley glacier, ice falling
from the glacier presents a hazard to hikers below
...

(5) Glaciers are a natural resource and contain 75% of the world’s freshwater
...
Some towns rely on glacial melting from a nearby ice cap to provide drinking
water
...
Others have channeled
meltwater from glaciers to their ﬁelds
...

490
...
The mass of the glacier reaches a
critical thickness
...
About 10% of a glacier shows above water
...
Spreading dark material over snow
promotes melting
...
Lakes formed on top of glaciers may
cause ﬂoods
...
The underlined word remote, as used in paragraph 4 of the passage, most nearly means
a
...

b
...

c
...

d
...

492
...
only on Antarctica
b
...
on nearly every continent
d
...
According to the passage, why does glacial ice
often appear blue?
a
...
because it absorbs all other colors but
reﬂects blue
c
...
because it is blue in color
494
...
There will not be another Ice Age coming
...
Glaciers have both negative and positive
effects on human life
...
Scientists have difﬁculty studying glaciers
...
Scientists have minimal data on the formation of glaciers
...
After reading the passage, what can one infer
about glaciers?
a
...

b
...

c
...

d
...

(1) A pioneer leader for women’s rights, Susan B
...
In Rochester,
New York, she began her ﬁrst public crusade on
behalf of temperance
...
Also,
she worked tirelessly against slavery and for
women’s rights
...

(2) At the time Anthony lived, women did
not have the right to vote
...
S
...
She hoped to prove that women had the
legal right to vote under the provisions of the
fourteenth and ﬁfteenth amendments to the Constitution
...

129

(3) Anthony did not work alone
...

Susan worked for the American Anti-Slavery
Society with Frederick Douglass, a fugitive slave
and black abolitionist
...
S
...

Anthony dollar coin
...

496
...
Reformers do not always see the results of
their efforts
...
Susan B
...

c
...
Anthony’s causes
...
Anthony did not condone the use of alcohol
...
Anthony advocated all of the following
EXCEPT
a
...

b
...

c
...

d
...

– LONGER PASSAGES –

498
...
a person who has the support of family
and friends
...
an activist who can enlist the help of others
to promote a cause
...
a person who is knowledgeable about a
particular cause
...
a person who ignores what others think
...
The underlined word crusade in paragraph 1
most nearly means
a
...

b
...

c
...

d
...

130

500
...
She collaborated with abolitionists to rid
the country of slavery
...
She was an activist and raised a family at
the same time
...
Her tireless efforts to guarantee women
the right to vote led to the establishment
of the nineteenth amendment to the
Constitution
...
She was a leader in the temperance
movement
...
In which of the following ways did the U
...

Mint honor her life’s work?
a
...
Anthony stamp was issued
...
The Susan B
...

c
...
Anthony Memorial Park was
built in Rochester
...
Susan B
...

Answers
SECTION 1 Vocabular y
1
...
To be outmoded is to be old-fashioned or out-ofdate
...

However, the key to the meaning is the context—that is, the phrase installed 17 years ago
...
c
...
The key to the meaning here is the
phrase they regularly put students to sleep
...
a
...

The keys here are the word malice and the
phrase almost ruined the referee’s career
...
d
...
The key here are the words
willful young man
...
b
...
The key here is the word
trivialized
...
a
...

The key here is the phrase usually loyal
friends, who had never shunned her before
...
b
...
The keys here are the words usually
described as ﬂamboyant and but…uncharacteristically modest
...
b
...
The keys here are the words outlandish
excuses and insincere employees
...
a
...
The fact that you can’t become a
certiﬁed teacher without completing the student teaching assignment means that it is
required
...

10
...
To be diligent is to be painstaking or thorough
...
d
...

12
...
Something that is animated is energetic
or lively
...
b
...

14
...
To be diplomatic is to be sensitive in dealing
with others or tactful
...
d
...
Although choice c, consider, is not out of

131

– ANSWERS –

16
...

17
...

18
...

19
...

20
...

21
...

22
...

23
...

24
...

25
...

26
...

27
...

28
...

29
...

30
...

31
...

32
...

33
...

the question, since ofﬁcials are responding to
several ﬁres that have already occurred, it is
more likely that they will do something more
pronounced and deﬁnitive than just considering the existing rules
...

To be unique is to be one of a kind or
unparalleled
...

When one is proﬁcient at something, one is
an expert or is skilled at it
...

When a group’s opinion is unanimous, it is
in accord or uniform
...

To be indispensable is to be necessary or
essential
...

If something is plausible, it is believable
or credible
...

An ultimatum is a ﬁnal statement of terms or
non-negotiable demand
...

To be apathetic is to show little or no interest
or to be indifferent
...

To delegate a task is to assign it or to appoint
another to do it
...

To articulate something is to give words to it
or express it
...
c
...

35
...
If a thing is detrimental, it is injurious
or harmful
...
b
...

37
...
Fallout is a side effect that occurs as a result
of some incident, action, or happening—that
is, it’s a consequence of something
...

38
...
Humid and damp both mean the same thing
in this context
...
b
...

40
...
To decontaminate and to purify both mean to
remove impurities
...
c
...

42
...
Dormant and inactive both mean not active,
as if asleep (the root meaning of dormant)
...
c
...

44
...
Yielded and relinquished both mean given up
...
c
...

46
...
To be jostled is to be bumped
...
a
...

48
...
Philosophy means a system of motivating
principles
...
b
...
This
implies there is something hidden or secret
...

50
...
To consider is to think about
...

51
...
An opportunity is a chance
...

132

– ANSWERS –

52
...
A grimace is a contortion of the face
...
A shriek would be described
in terms of sound, rather than looks
...
d
...
Answer b does convey a sense of
hierarchy, but in the wrong order
...
a
...

55
...
Although a muscle that atrophies may be
weakened (choice c), the primary meaning of
the phrase to atrophy is to waste away
...
a
...

Because Robin does things differently, she
would be considered unconventional
...

57
...
To depict the Sami, the author uses words
that point to their gentleness, which is an
admirable quality: They move quietly, display courtesy to the spirits of the wilderness,
and were known as peaceful retreaters
...

58
...
The immediate context of the word animistic
deﬁnes the word: for [the Sami], nature and
natural objects had a conscious life, a spirit
...
The other choices are
not in the passage
...
c
...
Although they are said to be peaceful,
they are not said to be timid or fearful (they
retreated from war because they did not
believe in it)
...

SECTION 2 Analogies
60
...
A petal is a part of a ﬂower; a leaf is a part of
a tree
...
d
...

62
...
A group of ﬁsh is called a school; a group of
wolves is called a pack
...
a
...

64
...
Watermelon is a kind of fruit; Dalmatian is a
kind of canine
...
e
...

66
...
Stretch and extend are synonyms; shake and
tremble are synonyms
...
c
...

68
...
Starving is an intensiﬁcation of hungry;
depressed is an intensiﬁcation of sad
...
a
...

70
...
A frame surrounds a picture; a fence surrounds
a backyard
...
b
...

72
...
A pharmacy sells drugs; a bakery sells bread
...
a
...

133

– ANSWERS –

74
...
Metropolitan describes urban areas; bucolic
describes rural areas
...
d
...

76
...
A Persian is a type of cat; a parakeet is a type
of bird
...
e
...

78
...
A skein is a quantity of yarn; a ream is a quantity of paper
...
b
...

80
...
A conductor leads an orchestra; a skipper leads
a crew
...
a
...

82
...
A cobbler makes and repairs shoes; a contractor
builds and repairs buildings
...
e
...

84
...
Obsession is a greater degree of interest; fantasy
is a greater degree of dream
...
d
...

86
...
Slapstick results in laughter; horror results
in fear
...
b
...

88
...
A cacophony is an unpleasant sound; a stench
is an unpleasant smell
...
a
...

90
...
The deltoid is a muscle; the radius is a bone
...
d
...

92
...
Being erudite is a trait of a professor; being
imaginative is a trait of an inventor
...
d
...

94
...
A palm (tree) has fronds; a porcupine has quills
...
e
...

96
...
A dirge is a song used at a funeral; a jingle is a
song used in a commercial
...
e
...

98
...
A spy acts in a clandestine manner; an accountant acts in a meticulous manner
...
c
...

100
...
An aerie is where an eagle lives; a house is where
a person lives
...
d
...
The paragraph also
implies that ﬁtness walking will result in a good
workout
...
Choice b may
seem like a logical answer, but the paragraph
only refers to people who are ﬁtness walkers, so
for others, a health club might be a good
investment
...

Although choice e seems logical, the paragraph
does not indicate that the wrong shoes will produce major injuries
...
b
...
Choice a is incorrect because the
writer never makes this type of comparison
...
Choice d is wrong because there is
no support to show that most New Yorkers are
interested in this work
...

103
...
This answer is implied by the whole paragraph
...
Choice a is incorrect
because the author never says that reading is
dull
...

104
...
The support for this choice is in the second
sentence, which states that in some countries,
toxic insecticides are still legal
...
There is no support
for choice c
...
Choice e
is illogical
...
a
...
The statement stresses that
there must be a judge’s approval (i
...
, legal
authorization) before a search can be conducted
...
Choices
c and e are not mentioned in the passage
...
e
...
Choice a can be ruled
out because there is no support to show that
studying math is dangerous
...
There is no support for choice c
...

107
...
The last sentence states that new technologies
are reported daily, and this implies that new
technologies are being constantly developed
...
With regard
to choice b, stone tools were ﬁrst used two and a
half million years ago, but they were not necessarily in use all that time
...
Although some
may agree that choice e is true, the author
of the paragraph does not give support for
this opinion
...
d
...
Choices b and e only tell us about
particular parts of the paragraph and are
too speciﬁc to be the main idea
...

Every sentence supports the idea asserted in
choice d
...
d
...
Choices a and e are opinions and are
not in the paragraph
...

110
...
The ﬁrst sentence points out that it is not practical to use the ﬁrst-person point of view in
business correspondence
...
Choice d is in the
paragraph and although it does tell us something about the ﬁrst-person point of view, it is
too narrow to represent the main idea, which
has to do with the ﬁrst-person point of view as it
is related to writing in a business environment
...
d
...
gone to war, implies that
the subject of the paragraph is history
...

112
...
The mention of all the amazing things the brain
is capable of is directly relevant to its being
mysterious and complex
...

113
...
Choice b addresses both of Gary’s vanities: his
person and his situation
...

Choice c deals only with his vanity of position
...

114
...
This choice refers both to age and complexity;
b and c refer only to complexity
...

115
...
This choice is the only one that supports and
develops the topic sentence
...
S
...

116
...
The topic sentence speaks of the big-bang theory
being much misunderstood, and c addresses
this, whereas the other choices do not
...
d
...
Choices a and c are both irrelevant to
the topic sentence
...

118
...
Choice c is the only entry that presents the similar traits of both the hero and the superstar
...
Choice b
deﬁnes the hero
...

119
...
This choice is a comparison between man and
bird
...
Choices b, c, and d do
not support this topic sentence
...
b
...
The other choices don’t mention parents at all
...
c
...
Choices a, b, and d show
the effects and statistics that result from this
actio but do not support the topic sentence
...
d
...
Choice a gives a reason for the
use of punishment in early America
...

123
...
Choice d gives us a reason why more people
are eating organic, so it supports the statement
made in the topic sentence
...
Choice c is about
another topic completely
...
c
...
Choices a, b, and d are examples of
strange laws
...
a
...
Choices b, c, and d give other
details that do not directly support the topic
sentence
...
c
...

Choices a and b state the game’s origin
...

127
...
This sentence gives a reason for longevity that
was introduced in the topic sentence
...

128
...
Choice a pronounces an end to 16 years of violence
...

129
...
Great wealth is not an indicator of honor
...
Choice a says, greatly respected, choice
b—a revered poet, and choice d—long-lasting
reputation
...
b
...
Choice a
states this idea explicitly: Each man “had to
depend on the others to stay alive
...
Choice d offers an example of how a man can be thrown overboard
and must rely on his crew to cut their whale
loose and come back and get him
...

SECTION 5 Short Passages
131
...
Choice d may seem attractive at ﬁrst, but the
passage simply says that the local media does
not adequately cover local politics—it doesn’t
discuss the reason for their neglect
...
c
...
The other choices, even if
true, are not in the passage
...
b
...
The other choices are
not supported by or developed in this passage
...
b
...

135
...
See the second sentence of the passage
...
Choice c might
seem attractive, but the passage does not say
that mediation is the best way to resolve a conﬂict, simply that it is an alternative way that
might prove effective
...
c
...
The other
choices might be true but are not in the passage
...
a
...
The other choices
may seem attractive on the surface because they
contain words and phrases from the passage,
but a closer look will show them to be incorrect
or absent from the passage
...
d
...

139
...
Choice b may seem attractive at ﬁrst, but the
passage doesn’t offer the opinion that the purpose of the shopping mall is important, it simply tells us what the purposes are
...
d
...

141
...
The third sentence speciﬁcally mentions that
the pointed side goes up and the root side faces
down
...
The other choices may be
true but are not mentioned in the passage
...
c
...

143
...
The directions state use of the new containers
will expedite pick-up of recyclables
...

144
...
See the second and third sentences for the steps
in making ratatouille
...

145
...
The main part of the passage describes how to
cook vegetables
...
The other
choices are not reﬂected in the passage
...
d
...

147
...
See the second sentence, which deﬁnes ksa
...

148
...
This answer is implied by the statement that
redistribution is needed so that people in
emerging nations can have proper medical
care
...

149
...
This choice is the best answer because the paragraph indicates that the new knitters are of

137

– ANSWERS –

varying ages and are not just women
...
Choice d is a prediction that
is not made in the paragraph
...
d
...
This
would mean that older people are more susceptible to hypothermia
...

151
...
The third sentence is the main idea
...
The other choices are not
in the passage
...
d
...
Choice a is incorrect because the
paragraph doesn’t say exercise is less important
...
Choices b and c are not
supported by the paragraph
...
c
...
Choice a is contradicted in the passage
...

154
...
The entire passage relates to this idea
...

155
...
This is the main idea of the passage because all
the sentences relate to it
...

156
...
This idea is expressed in the ﬁnal sentence and
wraps up the passage, speaking of the importance of creating a balance
...

157
...
The support for choice c is given in the second
sentence
...
Choice b is incorrect because the paragraph
states that women business owners face unique

obstacles, but it does not say that they
absolutely require outside help to succeed, just
that it is available
...
d
...
Choices a, b, and c are not
mentioned
...
a
...
The passage, as a whole, focuses on
appropriate and inappropriate uses of e-mail
...

160
...
The ﬁrst and second sentences reﬂect this idea
...
Choices b and d are
too limited to be main ideas
...
a
...

162
...
This is stated in the ﬁnal paragraph
...

163
...
This choice most nearly encompasses the passage and is reﬂected in the ﬁnal sentence
...
b
...
(See
the first three sentences of the paragraph
...

The other two choices are too limited to sum up
ecosystem activities
...
b
...
The other
choices are only physical settings
...
c
...
Choice a
is incorrect because the business aspect of alternative medicine is not discussed in the passage
...

138

– ANSWERS –

167
...
Pain management is a generic term and pain
management treatment can be alternative or
traditional, depending on the practitioner
...

168
...
The last sentence of the second paragraph
clearly states that people born before 1945 are
the least likely to turn to alternative therapies
...
d
...

170
...
See the ﬁrst paragraph
...
Choice c is perhaps true
but is not in the passage
...

Accompanying her to class may just have been
his assigned job
...
b
...

172
...
According to the first paragraph, Autherine
Lucy was surprised when the professor apparently did not notice her
...
d
...

174
...
The other answers are all contrary to information in the passage
...
c
...

176
...
This is the only correct choice
...
d
...

178
...
This is the deﬁnition of Kwanzaa
...
d
...

180
...
Each statement about Cortez is true, but only
this answer matched the prophecy
...
d
...

182
...
This choice best captures the theme of the
encounter
...
a
...

184
...
The second sentence of the ﬁrst paragraph supports this choice
...
b
...

186
...
This is the only choice and is stated in paragraph 1
...
b
...

188
...
The important part of the question the reader
should consider is “the origin of all species
...

189
...
These are the only two principles mentioned in
the passage
...
b
...

191
...
Six thousand years ago must account for over
2,000 years after the birth of Christ, and that
leaves almost 4,000 years in the B
...
era
...

192
...
The Carib were not in any way described as
peaceful but rather, hostile people
...
All other choices
are descriptive of the Caribs and are explicit in
the passage
...
a
...
Choice b is incorrect
since the Arawaks were defeated by the Carib,
and neither the Dutch nor the French were
mentioned in the role of conquerors
...
b
...
Choice c refers to the products one can buy on the modern St
...

Choice d makes no sense since the time of strife
is when the tribe allowed a chief to be chosen
...

139

– ANSWERS –

195
...
Present-day St
...
Choices b and d have no support in the passage
...
The
Spanish are only mentioned in the passage in
conjunction with the Indians
...
d
...

None of the other choices are approached in the
passage
...
a
...
Choice b is
incorrect since the phrase other type of ﬁgurative
language is clearly stated
...
Choice d is incorrect;
review the deﬁnition of a metaphor in the ﬁrst
and second lines of the passage
...
c
...
This links thorns with the idea of adding
another dimension to the image of love
...
Choice d is incorrect because thorns are
not being compared to a rose
...
d
...
Choices b and c are not mentioned
in the passage
...

200
...
This speciﬁc detail can be found in paragraph
1
...
” Choices a and b are incorrect
because they each deal with only one reason for
a poet to write
...

201
...
This title most nearly captures the main idea of
the passage and the author’s purpose in writing

the piece
...

202
...
The passage clearly states that Wolfgang took an
interest in the clavier when his sister was learning to play the instrument
...
b
...
This paragraph also states
that Vienna was the capital of the Hapsburg
Empire
...
d
...

205
...
The third paragraph states that at the time, it
was not uncommon for child prodigies to have
extensive concert tours
...

206
...
The main point of the passage is to describe
Mozart’s experiences as a child prodigy, or a
highly talented child
...

207
...
The titles in choices a, b, and d all imply that the
passage will provide information, which it does
not
...

208
...
Sentence 1 (choice a) contains the phrase
should have been a colossal failure, which is an
opinion of the author
...

209
...
The sentence preceding and leading into sentence 3 speaks of the very brief time—a
month—that the organizers of the fair had to
ﬁnd a new site and get information out
...
Choice c is incorrect because there is no
indication in the passage that New York ofﬁcials
tried to stop the fair
...
d
...

211
...
Although the passage mentions firefighters’
responsibilities (choice a), the main focus of
the passage is the installation of smoke
detectors
...
Choice d is
not mentioned
...
b
...
Choice a may seem attractive because the passage contains the words
four inches and twelve inches, but close reading
will show it to be incorrect
...
a
...

214
...
The answer can be found in the next to last
sentence of the passage
...
d
...
There is no information in the passage to indicate that the other choices are a ﬁreﬁghter’s responsibility, even though they may
be in certain real-life situations
...
b
...
The last sentence states that smoke
detectors should not be placed in kitchens
(choice d)
...
b
...
The other choices
are incorrect because the passage does not list
the ideas in order of importance (hierarchical)
or in the order in which they have occurred or
should occur (chronological)
...

141

218
...
The passage does say that a homeowner can
have an energy audit, but it says nothing about
a local energy company providing that service
...
Choices
b and d are clearly stated in the passage
...
a
...
The other choices
may all be mentioned in the passage, but they
are too speciﬁc to be the main idea
...
d
...

221
...
The ﬁfth paragraph states that double-paned
windows can cut energy costs, so we can infer
that this means that they are energy efﬁcient
...

222
...
The passage is organized chronologically
...

223
...
The second sentence of the second paragraph
states this clearly
...
d
...

225
...
This is the only appropriate title
...
Choice c is incorrect because this passage
does not contain numbered steps
...

– ANSWERS –

226
...
The passage states this is one possible focus but
does not say successful book clubs must focus
exclusively on one genre
...
Choice c might seem attractive at ﬁrst, but the passage clearly states that a
focus should be chosen, even if that focus is
deﬁned as ﬂexible and open
...
d
...

228
...
This is a listing of reasons why Hartville
employees are unhappy and went on strike
...
c
...

Choices a and b may be attractive at ﬁrst, but
choice a is incorrect because it doesn’t say the
equipment is broken, just that it is old and dangerous
...

230
...
The only speciﬁc recommendation in the taskforce ﬁndings appears in the second ﬁnding
regarding equipment in the manufacturing
department, in the ﬁnal sentence
...
b
...
The other
choices are not stated in the passage
...
d
...

233
...
Choice c provides the best outline of the passage
...

234
...
This passage provides information to social
workers about music therapy, as the title in
choice b indicates
...
Choice
c is possible, but does not summarize the passage
as well as choice b
...

235
...
Although the other choices may be correct,
they require knowledge beyond the passage
...

236
...
Based particularly on the last sentence of the
passage, a is the best choice
...

237
...
In the Northern Hemisphere, June 21 would be
summer; however, according to the passage, it
is the beginning of winter in the Southern
Hemisphere
...
b
...

239
...
Because the author mentions that one of the
two women gained international fame because
she attended the international conference, the
reader can surmise that for a woman to attend
was a rare occurrence; therefore, choice d is the
best answer
...
Choice a might be true but
would require information not contained in
the passage
...
d
...

241
...
Answer d is the most accurate conclusion
because the ﬁrst sentence speaks of periods of
war
...

242
...
Although the people in the other choices
might read this passage, it is not directed
toward scholars (choices a and b), nor is there

142

– ANSWERS –

anything in it about operating a loom (choice
c)
...

243
...
Choices c and d are beyond the scope of this
passage and a reader would not be able to tell if
the author believed them, based on the information provided
...

244
...
The missing sentence is in a portion of the passage that discusses the long-term impacts of
the Franks; therefore, b is the best choice
...
Choice d is more informal in style
than the rest of the passage
...
b
...

246
...
The passage explicitly states that Charlemagne
was crowned emperor in 800 and died in 814—
a period of 14 years
...

247
...
The phrase ill effects of that precedes the words
erosion and putrefaction means that putrefaction is a negative consequence, as is erosion
...

248
...
This passage is written in a style directed to a
general audience; therefore, choice b is not correct, as an advanced marine biology textbook
would contain a more specialized style and level
of writing
...
This passage is not a personal essay, so choice c is also
incorrect
...
c
...

250
...
The context of the passage indicates that the
sentences in question are pointing out an
unforeseen consequence (however) and the current situation (now)
...

251
...
Choices a, b, and c are not supported by information in the passage
...

252
...
Choices a and c are possible deﬁnitions of ushered, but do not ﬁt in the context of the passage
...
Heralded,
choice d, is the best deﬁnition in the context
...
b
...
Choice a is
incorrect because it does not lead into a discussion regarding the RDA approach’s shortcomings
...
Choice d is incorrect
because its casual style is inconsistent with the
style used in the rest of the passage
...
b
...
Choice
a is contradicted by the ﬁnal sentence of the
passage
...
Choice d is contradicted by the next to last
sentence of the passage
...
b
...
There is nothing new or newsworthy
in it (choice a)
...
It does not
deal with matters that might involve government (choice d)
...
d
...
Choice a is wrong, because something so
important would not be discretionary (optional)
...
Choice c is wrong because the
word austere connotes sternness
...

257
...
Choices a, c, and d are all listed in the passage
as functions of accounting
...

258
...
The ﬁnal sentence is an instance of a regular
pattern that still has an uncanny quality
...

Choice d would indicate that the ﬁnal sentence
is a restatement of the preceding, which it is not
...
d
...
eccentric; the
pairing of extraordinary and erratic in choice d
includes both meanings given in the passage
...
Choice b contains deﬁnitions
that the passage does not ascribe to the common view of genius
...
c
...
Choices a and b are too general
...

261
...
All the other statements are inaccurate
...
a
...
It provides a transition to the sentence following it by giving information about the
location of the statue
...

263
...
The title Sights and History on Dublin’s O’Connell Street touches on all the speciﬁc subjects of
the passage: the sights to see on this particular
street and the history connected to them
...
Choices b and c are too speciﬁc in that they cover only the material in the
ﬁrst paragraph
...
c
...
Choices a and b do not make sense;
answer d is incorrect because there is no real
fraud used in the argument in the passage
...
d
...
Choice a interprets the adjective unhurried in too negative a manner for the tone of
the passage
...

266
...
This is implied in the ﬁrst passage, which says
that Dilly’s is “popular,” and the same idea is
explicitly stated in the second passage
...
d
...

268
...
This is the only quotation from the second passage that reveals the critic’s opinion of the quality of the food
...
a
...

144

– ANSWERS –

270
...
In contrast to the second passage, the ﬁrst passage
seems to be encouraging a visit to Dilly’s
...

271
...
Choice d sums up the ﬁrst paragraph, which is
essentially a list of the cuttleﬁsh’s characteristics
...
Choice a adds information not in
keeping with the tone or focus of the passage
...

Choice c uses but does not explain scientiﬁc
language, which is out of keeping with the general informational style of the passage
...
b
...
Choice a is incorrect because
the passage only describes cuttleﬁsh as resembling squid
...
Choice d is
incorrect because the passage never describes
cuttleﬁsh as the most intelligent cephalopod
...
d
...
All the other choices choose
minor details from the paragraphs as the
main subjects
...
d
...
Choices a and
b describe too scientiﬁc an aim for the content
and tone
...

275
...
This answer is broad enough to support all the
information discussed in the passage: chemicals
in the home, research on certain houseplants,
the suggestion of the best plants for the job
and why
...
Choice b suggests our allergies are caused
by chemicals in the home, when the passage
suggests that we unknowingly blame our symptoms on allergies
...

276
...
This is explicitly stated in the passage
...
Choice
b is tempting, but it is not a speciﬁc effect of the
chemicals combining; it merely states that ridding our homes of impurities seems a great
task
...

277
...
It is clearly stated that research has been done
using certain houseplants
...
Choice c reveals a faulty reading of
the passage in which three of the chemicals
are clearly named
...

278
...
This answer is inferred in the last line of the
passage: primal qualities
...
Choices a and c are incorrect
because antiquity refers to how long the species
has been on the planet, which has no relationship to how long a life span the individual
plants or leaves have
...
One
cannot make a general statement on how successful the plants’ reactions are in research
experiments when the passage only presents us
with one type of research experiment
...
c
...
Choice a
is incorrect because only one experiment is discussed, and no mention of the millennium is
made at all
...
Choice d is supported by
two sentences in the passage, but it is not broad
enough to support all the information offered
in the passage
...
c
...

281
...
The passage supports this choice only
...
d
...

283
...
The purpose of Egyptian pyramids was to
house the dead forever
...
c
...

285
...
Hughes was inﬂuenced by jazz music
...
d
...

287
...
All other choices are not stated in the passage
...
c
...

289
...
Applying words such as mild, moderate, significant, severe, devastating, incredible, and inconceivable to the damage done by a tornado is a
means of describing the damage, therefore, the
words are descriptive, choice b
...
b
...
The
Cougar Run ﬁre occurred on June 14
...
b
...

292
...
This is the only choice that is an act of nature
...
Choices b and c are accidents
...
c
...

294
...
Chase Crossing is at level four; Kings Hill is at
level two
...
a
...
The answer would
include students, who are not necessarily
salaried workers
...

296
...
Only two of the 200 men in the Baidya caste
are farmers
...
a
...

298
...
The Men’s table shows this as the only correct
response
...
d
...

300
...
This choice is reﬂected in both the Men’s table
and the Men’s and Women’s table
...
d
...

302
...
According to the chart, this is the correct choice
...
a
...

304
...
The correct response for this month is 7
...

305
...
The risk, based solely on BMI, is very high
...
a
...

307
...
Heart rate does not appear on the chart
...
c
...

309
...
The second sentence states that routine maintenance is performed by the maintenance
department
...
c
...

311
...
The second sentence of the passage indicates
that each driver who ﬁnishes a route will clean
a truck
...
a
...
The other choices are not included in
the passage
...
c
...

314
...
See the ﬁrst sentence of the passage
...
b
...
The passage does
not mention choice a or c, and the passengers’
complaints have nothing to do with how the
bus “runs
...
d
...

317
...
According to the passage, hazardous waste is
deﬁned by the U
...
Environmental Protection
Agency (EPA)
...
d
...

319
...
See paragraph 1
...
)
320
...
See the second sentence of paragraph 2
...
b
...

322
...
Virtually, the whole passage deals with F
...
S
...

membership requirements
...

323
...
See the ﬁrst paragraph
...
c
...
It introduces the topic of the
sprained ankle
...
Choice b is incorrect because there are
only two sentences that deal with bandaging,
and they only mention ankle sprains
...

325
...
This is explicitly stated in the fourth sentence of
paragraph 1
...
Choice b is not the cause of a sprain
...

Choice c confuses two details: The ball of the
foot is used as the starting point for wrapping
the bandage, tissue is not mentioned, and torn
describes damage to the ligament
...
c
...
Only c is not supported
by the passage
...

327
...
The passage explicitly states that once the ﬁrst
cold pack is removed, one should wait 30 minutes and then reapply for another 20 minutes
...
Both choices a and b bypass
the reapplication of the cold pack
...

328
...
This is implied in the sentence, bleeding, hence
bruising
...
Choice a is not a direct cause of
the bruising; again, blood is
...
Choice d is irrelevant to the passage
...
b
...
There
is really no joy depicted in the poem nor any
sense that this is a baby eagle (choice c), and
there is no mention of baby birds the eagle
might be watching over (choice d)
...
The most logical choice is that the eagle
is hunting
...
b
...
Neither a forest nor cliffs are
azure (choices a and c), and nature is not mentioned as an entity in the poem (choice d)
...
a
...

332
...
The fellow frightens the speaker—a, c, and d are
not frightening
...
a
...
Also, the subject is a snake, which is generally a feared animal
...
c
...
The
other choices are all human beings
...
b
...

336
...
The poem describes nature in terms of the
murder of a happy flower, and includes the
words beheads and assassin; therefore, the most
logical description of the poet’s attitude would
not be delight, indifference, or reverence, but
rather dismay
...
c
...
If there is any hint of fear or horror in the
poem (choices a and b), it is on the part of the
poet
...

338
...
A God who would approve of a happy ﬂower
being beheaded, while, apparently, the rest of
the natural world (as exempliﬁed by the sun)
remains unmoved, is probably not to be
regarded as benevolent or just (choices a and
b)
...

The most logical choice is that, in this poem,
God is cruel (choice c)
...
b
...
Therefore, Death is presented as a kindly gentleman
...
Choice
c is incorrect because the poem does not relate
that the character, Death, is an immortal god
...

340
...
This choice ﬁts the kindness of Death, as stated
by the speaker, as well as the fact that Death

knew no haste
...
labour and leisure, too, for
his civility
...

Choice a is a violent image of Death that is not
supported by the poem, that is, the image of a
kidnapper
...
Choice d is not broad
enough to support all the ideas of Death that
are presented in the poem; it just refers to the
last line
...
b
...
Because he is driving
slowly, Death knows no haste
...
None of the other choices are the
opposite of slowly
...
c
...
the roof scarcely
visible
...
All of these
are descriptive of a grave with its gravestone
...
This is not supported,
even with the line that says the roof was scarcely
visible
...

Choice b is incorrect for the same reason that
a was
...

343
...
Death is a pleasant companion; the speaker
only describes it in positive, gentle terms
...
Neither is the case in this poem
...

344
...
The poet uses merely to simply make a statement with no emotion attached to it
...

345
...
The soldier’s behavior is aggressive: cursing,
jealous of others who receive honor, quick to
ﬁght
...

There is no mention of dedication, nor anything to suggest a fear of cowardice
...
c
...
” There is
no emotion attached to the exits and entrances
of man in the poet’s tone, thus there is no need
for anguish or sorrow
...
Choice b
discusses a metaphor of life as a journey down
a river, and choice d states that life is a comedy
...

347
...
This is supported by the Last scene of all in
which Shakespeare suggests that old age is a
second childhood that will lead to oblivion
without control of the senses, like the infant in
the ﬁrst act
...
No fear of death is mentioned, nor
is free will, so choices a and d are incorrect
...

348
...
The poet accomplishes all three
...
It ties his
theme together by carrying us from the ﬁrst
stage to the last and then back again, and the
words convey his tone of indifference, as
discussed above
...
a
...
Choices b and c are
wrong because nowhere in the passage is it
implied that Sula is a hero or leader, or even that

the Bottom has such a personage
...

350
...
The passage says that people who live in the
Bottom are apt to go awry, to break from their
prescribed boundaries
...
Nowhere in the passage is it
implied that the people are furtive, suspicious,
or unkempt (choices a, b, and c)
...
d
...

Choices a, b, and c do not ﬁt the sense or syntax of the paragraph, because the however in the
next sentence contradicts them
...
d
...

353
...
Although the other choices are sometimes
connotations of the term avant-garde, the
author’s meaning of innovative is supported
by the ﬁnal judgment of the passage on the
play as revolutionary
...
d
...
Choice a
underplays and choice b overestimates the
importance of the work to the author of the
passage
...

355
...
The paragraph describes only the similarity
between the hero’s journey and the poet’s
...

356
...
The ﬁrst sentence of the passage describes
Campbell’s hero as archetypal
...
Also, in the second sentence, the author of the passage mentions the
collective unconscious of all humankind
...

357
...
The passage states that the hero’s tale will
enlighten his fellows, but that it will also be
dangerous
...
Choice b is directly contradicted in the passage
...
There is nothing in the
passage to imply that the tale is a warning of
catastrophe or a dangerous lie (choices c and d)
...
b
...

What the hero brings back may be a kind of gift,
charm, or prize (choices a, c, and d), but those
words do not necessarily connote blessing or
enlightenment
...
c
...
Choices a and
b both describe a part of the hero’s journey but
neither describes the whole of it
...

360
...
The last sentence in the passage says that the
kingdom of the unconscious mind goes down
into unsuspected Aladdin caves
...

361
...
The tone of the passage is one of anticipation
and excitement
...
b
...

363
...
All the statements can be supported in the passage except this choice
...
c
...

SECTION 10 Longer Passages
365
...
Choice b includes the main points of the selection and is not too broad
...
Choice c also
features minor points, with the addition of
“History of the National Park System,” which is
not included in the selection
...

366
...
Choice d expresses the main idea of paragraph
4 of the selection
...

367
...
Choice a is correct, according to the second
sentence in paragraph 2
...
Choice d is not mentioned in
the selection
...
c
...

Choices a, b, and d are not mentioned in
the selection
...
a
...

Paragraph 1 states that a straight-line distance
between the northernmost and southernmost
coastal cities—not the length of the coastline—
is 225 miles, so c is incorrect
...

370
...
This is the best choice because each paragraph
of the passage describes an inventor whose
machine was a step toward the modern bicycle
...

Choices c and d are incorrect because they both
make statements that, according to the passage,
are untrue
...
d
...

372
...
The passage gives the history of the bicycle
...
There is no support for
choices b and c
...
b
...
The iron rims kept the tires
from getting worn down, and, therefore, the
tires lasted longer
...

Choice c is incorrect because no information is
given about whether iron-rimmed or wooden
tires moved more smoothly
...

374
...
Based on the paragraph, this is the only possible choice
...

Based on the context, the other choices make no
sense
...
a
...

The writer cannot be certain that the safety
bicycle would look familiar to today’s cyclists; it
is his or her opinion that this is so
...

376
...
The ﬁrst two sentences of the passage indicate
that a backdraft is dangerous because it is an
explosion
...

377
...
The second paragraph indicates that there is little or no visible ﬂame with a potential backdraft
...

378
...
This is stated in the last paragraph
...
The other
choices would be useless or harmful
...
a
...
It can reasonably be inferred, then, that
more oxygen would produce more visible
ﬂames
...
d
...
ﬁrst aid
measures should be directed at quickly cooling the
body)
...

151

381
...
This is stated in the ﬁrst sentence of the second
paragraph
...
Choice d is not mentioned
...
a
...

383
...
This information is given in the second paragraph: If the victim still suffers from the symptoms listed in the ﬁrst sentence of the paragraph,
the victim needs more water and salt to help with
the inadequate intake of water and the loss of ﬂuids that caused those symptoms
...
d
...

385
...
The fourth sentence of the second paragraph
explains that during an attack the person
afﬂicted with asthma will compensate for constricted airways by breathing a greater volume
of air
...
c
...
Now asthma is considered a chronic
condition of the lungs
...
b
...
However, in this passage, exacerbations is interchangeable with asthma attacks
...
a
...
See
the bottom half of the second paragraph for a
full explanation of the morphological effects of
an attack
...
d
...
Although using a fan in the summer
months sounds good, an air conditioner is
recommended when the pollen count is high
...

Only physical activity is touted as a possible
symptom reducer
...
a
...

391
...
All the individuals listed would glean a certain
amount of knowledge from the passage; however, a healthcare professional would ﬁnd the
broad overview of the effects of asthma, combined with the trigger avoidance and diagnosis
information, most relevant
...

A mother with an asthmatic child would probably not be interested in the diagnosis protocol
...

392
...
According to the last part of the third paragraph, second-hand smoke can increase the
risk of allergic sensitization in children
...
b
...

394
...
See the second and third paragraphs for reference to heart problems with anorexia, the
fourth and ﬁfth paragraphs for discussion of
heart problems with bulimia, and the last paragraph, where heart disease is mentioned, as a
risk in obese people who suffer from bingeeating disorder
...
c
...

396
...
It is the other way around: 50% of people with
anorexia develop bulimia, as stated near the
end of the ﬁfth paragraph
...
b
...

398
...
In the second paragraph, the thyroid gland
function is mentioned as slowing down—one
effort on the part of the body to protect itself
...
a
...

400
...
As stated in the opening sentence of the fourth
paragraph, bulimia patients may exercise
obsessively
...
d
...

If as many as one-third of the binge-eating disorder population are men, it stands to reason
that up to two-thirds are younger women, given
that we have learned that about 90% of all eating disorder sufferers are adolescent and young
adult women
...
c
...
It
does not give advice on transforming a greyhound (choice a)
...

The author’s tone is not objective (choice d),
but rather enthusiastic
...
d
...
The passage does not
mention b or c
...

404
...
See the ﬁrst paragraph
...

405
...
See the last paragraph
...

406
...
The enthusiastic tone of the passage seems
meant to encourage people to adopt retired
greyhounds
...
Choice b is
wrong because the author substantiates every
point with information
...

407
...
See the end of the next to last sentence in the
passage
...

408
...
This is stated explicitly in the second sentence
of the passage
...
Choice c
deals with problems that belong in the domain
of mankind, not the universe
...

409
...
Again, this is a deﬁnition explicitly stated in
the sixth sentence
...
Choice c is
incorrect because it only deals with one action
of the personiﬁed concept in goddess form
...

410
...
This is stated in the third sentence of paragraph
2
...
According to
the passage, he felt it was safer to arrange for the
child’s father to be a mortal
...

411
...
This answer follows the logic of the previous
answer
...
The
other choices mention individual words that
appear in the passage but have no support
...
b
...
Choice
a is incorrect because there is no other mention
of Zeus or events in the Trojan War other than
Achilles’ death
...
Choice d is incorrect because
Achilles is the son of Thetis and Peleus, the
bride and groom of the myth
...
c
...
All other choices are irrelevant
...
c
...
The couple lived in a
dwelling that had several rooms
...
Choice a is incor-

rect because they obviously were not impoverished
...
Choice d is incorrect because this
was the life the wife wanted to have, but instead
had shabby walls, worn furniture etc
...
d
...
This
choice presents the fact that the wife had a
maid
...
Choice b is tempting, but the
poverty of her rooms is more in her eyes than
a truthful economic indicator
...
It has nothing to do with economic standing because it could have been
washed by the maid or the wife, and the situation would have been remedied
...
a
...
Instead, she
slipped into marriage with a minor civil servant
...
Choices b, c, and d are
incorrect because the wife loving anything
other than expensive things is never mentioned
in the passage
...
b
...

Choice a is blatantly incorrect, because the husband obviously enjoys homemade beef stew
while the wife dreams of wings of grouse
...
Choice d is
irrelevant to the passage
...
d
...
The wife admits she only loves rich
things, believes she was made for them, and

153

– ANSWERS –

focuses all her desires on being admired and
sought after, thinking only of herself at all
times
...
Although
choice b is tempting, the author does not
develop the husband enough for him to
become the focus of the passage
...
The focus is on the wife, not on class distinctions in general
...
a
...

These are the words that truly add dimension to
the descriptions of the home and the daydreams of the wife
...
Shabby, worn, ugly, and homemade are
adjectives that add to the undesirable view she
has of her present situation
...

420
...
This answer is explicitly stated in the ﬁrst sentence of the selection
...

Choice c is too general to be the best answer
...
c
...
Choice a only names one
medical instrument used during the procedure
...
Choice d offers a procedure that would
be chosen as an alternative to angioplasty
...
a
...
” None of the
other choices are supported or implied as a definition for invasive
...
c
...
It
begins with injecting a special dye
...

424
...
This answer can be found in paragraph 4
...
Choice a is not supported in
the passage
...

425
...
This choice is supported in the last sentence of
paragraph 3
...
Choice c is a complete misunderstanding of the text
...

Because two answers are incorrect, d is not a
viable choice
...
d
...
Choice a may be considered a synonym, but it is not the best choice
...

427
...
Paragraph 2 of the passage clearly states that
Benjamin Franklin ﬁrst considered the concept
of DST
...
b
...

429
...
This choice is directly supported by paragraph 5
...
a
...
Choice d is
too broad to represent the best title
...

431
...
Paragraph 5 clearly states that during the oil
embargo and energy crisis of the 1970s, President Richard Nixon extended DST through the
Daylight Saving Time Energy Act of 1973 to
conserve energy further
...
b
...
The writer indicates that visitors to Hershey’s Chocolate
World are greeted by a giant Reeses Peanut
Butter Cup, so it is logical to assume that
these are manufactured by Hershey
...
Choice d is not
discussed in the passage at all
...
d
...
In paragraph 3, the passage says, The
Hershey Chocolate company was born in 1894
as a subsidiary of the Lancaster Caramel Company
...

Although it may be true that Milton Hershey
owned each company in its entirety (choice
a), that is not clear from the material
...
Finally, the passage contains no discussion of whether or not any of
Hershey’s companies were incorporated
(choice c)
...
a
...

Choices c and d focus on small details of the
passage; choice b is not discussed in the passage
...
b
...
The chocolate company
was founded in 1894; the correct choice is b
...
c
...
None of the other
choices can be inferred from the information in
the passage
...
b
...

Modest is the word that best ﬁts being born in
a small village and having the unremarkable

early life described; it is also a word that provides a contrast to the mention of Milton’s
later popularity
...
d
...
Paragraph 2 says that
electrodes accumulate much data
...
c
...
They can be permanently implanted, they have advantages over
electrodes, they are promising candidates for
neural prostheses, they will have great accuracy, and they are ﬂexible
...
d
...
However, there is no suggestion that
removing biochemicals would be viable
...
a
...
Studying the brain
(choice d) is not the initial function of channels, though it is one of the uses of the probes
themselves
...
b
...

443
...
See the last sentence of paragraph 3
...
That it
reduces the volume of waste (choice b) is an
advantage, not a disadvantage
...

444
...
See the last sentence of paragraph 5, which
states that incineration is
...

445
...
See the last sentence of paragraph 6, which
points out that steam sterilization does not
change the appearance of the waste, thus perhaps raising questions at a landﬁll
...
c
...
Paragraph 6

155

– ANSWERS –

says that liquid may form during the sterilization process
...
a
...
Paragraph 7
points out that incineration is especially
appropriate for pathological wastes
...

448
...
The second paragraph says that the main risk of
pushing carts is potential exposure from torn
bags but that automated carts can reduce that
potential
...
b
...

Sterilization does not change the appearance of
waste
...

450
...
See the second sentence of paragraph 2:

...

451
...
See the last sentence of the passage, which states
that the costs have been prohibitive for smaller
units when using rotary kilns
...
c
...
The words fugitive emissions are used in the context of the disposal process of hydropulping
...
There is
nothing anywhere in the passage about criminal activity, so choice b is not a likely answer
...

453
...
According to the paragraph 2, Deep, underlying
ﬁssures that already existed in the economy led to
the Great Depression
...
a
...

455
...
Paragraph 1 states that shantytowns were called
Hoovervilles because citizens blamed their
plight on the Hoover administration’s refusal to
offer assistance
...
b
...
Choice b is the only answer
that implies action
...
d
...
The wild stock
market speculation, also described in that paragraph, is another example of extravagance
...
b
...

459
...
This paragraph clearly states that the New Deal
expanded the role of the central government in
regulating the economy and creating social
assistance programs
...

460
...
Choice b emphasizes only damage to the
atmosphere; the passage encompasses more
than that
...
Choice d is too narrow—the ﬁnal paragraph of the passage emphasizes that the circulation of the atmosphere is but one example
of the complex events that keeps the earth alive
...
c
...
Choice a is
wrong because the passage does not explain
exactly what will happen as a result of damage
to the atmosphere and other life-sustaining
mechanisms
...
Choice d is wrong because it is
solar energy that travels 93 million miles
through space, not the atmosphere
...
b
...

463
...
This question assesses the ability to recognize
supported and unsupported claims
...
Choice b is an assertion
without speciﬁc supporting detail
...
Only choice d explains that conditions would be inhospitable at the equator
and poles without the circulation of the atmosphere; therefore, it is the best choice
...
a
...
Paragraph 2 deals with how variations in the strength with which solar radiation
strikes the earth affects temperature
...

465
...
There is no mention in the ﬁrst paragraph of
any reviving or cleansing effect the atmosphere
may have (choices b and d)
...

466
...
Paragraph 1 mentions that the symptoms of
Type II diabetes may occur gradually and thus

be attributed to other causes
...

467
...
According to the beginning of paragraph 2,
only the long-term health problems are the
same for these two different disorders
...
d
...

469
...
According to the last paragraph, non-insulindependent diabetics should stick to a diet
consisting of 50–60% carbohydrates
...

470
...
Paragraph 4 mentions that, although insulin
must bind to a receptor in order to begin working, the main role of insulin is to signal the
burning of glucose/sugar for energy
...

471
...
Type II, or non-insulin-dependent, diabetes is
the main subject of the passage, which distinguishes Type II from Type I and goes on to
stress the importance of diet
...
d
...
In addition, even though insulin may bind
to its receptors, cells may fail to read the signal
to metabolize the glucose
...
c
...
Insulin is
then released from the pancreas, thus signaling
tissues to metabolize the glucose
...
c
...
The minority of diabetics are
afﬂicted with this form
...

157

– ANSWERS –

475
...
The ﬁnal paragraph says that there is no cure
for diabetes, so choices b and d are incorrect
...
It does not ﬁt with the objective tone of the passage nearly as well as the
word counteract
...
c
...

477
...
All the answers indicate peaceful coexistence
...

478
...
See the last paragraph
...

479
...
The last paragraph of the passage mentions
that an antigen announces its foreignness with
intricate shapes called epitopes that protrude
from the surface
...
a
...
However, the last section of
paragraph 2 mentions that the immune system is capable of choices b, c, and d
...
b
...
This topic is set up in the
ﬁrst paragraph and further elucidated throughout the body of the passage
...
b
...

483
...
The context leads to the meaning: The ﬁrst sentence speaks of complexity, from which we can
infer an elaborate system of interconnections,

especially in light of the second sentence
...
The word perplexity means bewilderment and is unrelated to the passage (choice
c)
...

484
...
The crow is using the stick as a tool to assist it
in getting food
...
a
...

486
...
The questions in this paragraph ask the reader to
consider the use of animals in our world and
questions whether knowing that they have more
intelligence than previously thought might
make a difference in human treatment of them
...
d
...

488 c
...
The complexity of
what the chimpanzee is doing to get his food
and the many thinking activities he must
accomplish in order to realize his goal of getting the termites—learning a new skill, selecting and shaping a tool, remembering stored
knowledge, using the correct knowledge in
order to take proper action for the situation—
shows intelligence
...
b
...

490
...
One of the hazards of living in a city near a glacier is the possibility that lakes forming on top of
the glacier may ﬂood the city
...

158

– ANSWERS –

491
...
This passage states that although most glaciers
are in remote regions, some are nearby
...

492
...
The passage states that glaciers can be found on
nearly every continent
...
b
...

494
...
This choice is the only one that can be concluded from the passage
...
a
...

496
...
Although all choices are true statements, only b
states the main idea
...
d
...

498
...
The passage only gives evidence that supports
this answer
...
d
...

500
...
Although each statement is true, her greatest
and lasting achievement was that her efforts
led to the establishment of the nineteenth
amendment
...
b
...

159

Title: Reading Comprehension for GRE
Description: Reading Comprehension: Nearly 500 RCs are there. if you go through you can defnitely succeed.

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