GRE阅读理解训练

GRE阅读理解(Reading Comprehension)训练

Passage 1

My steamboat voyage to Albany and back has turned out rather more favorably than I had expected. The distance, from New York to Albany is 150 miles. I ran it up within 32 hours and down in 30. I had a light breeze blowing against me the whole way both going and coming, and the voyage has been performed wholly by the power of the steam engine. I overtook many boats beating against the wind and parted with them as if they had been at anchor. The power of boats run by steam is now fully proved. The morning I left New York there were not, perhaps, thirty persons in the city who believed that the boat would ever move one mile per hour or be the least use.

Questions for Passage 1

1.1 Choose the best title for this passage.

SUBJECT MATTER A. The Success of the Steamboat

B. The Small Faith of Small People

C. The Effectiveness of the Steam Engine

D. A Trip to Albany

E. The Speed of the Steamboat

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1.2 The author's main thought is that

GENERALIZATION A. the steamboat voyage turned out more favorably than he had expected.

B. the author's steamboat trip was successful.

C. most people doubted that the steamboat would be of the least use.

D. the voyage was performed wholly by the power of the steam engine.

E. the steamboat, unlike a sailboat, can be used successfully with the wind against it.

1.5 (a) Assuming that Poughkeepsie is midway between New York and Albany, and that Fulton's speed was constant, the leg of the author's trip from Poughkeepsie to New York must have taken

CONCLUSION A. 5 hours. B. 7 hours C. 10 hours D. 15 hours. E. 20 hours.

1.5 (b) We can conclude from this passage that

CONCLUSION A. many sailboats were at anchor when the author traveled the

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Hudson to Albany.

B. sailboats were having more difficulty with winds on the author's trip north than on the reverse leg of his journey.

C. no sailboat could have ever made Albany from New York in less than 32 hours.

D. sailboats were having difficulty with headwinds on both the author's upriver and downriver trips,

E. the distance from Albany to New York is shorter than that from New York to Albany.

1.9 The author states that he had a \"light breeze blowing against me the whole way both going and coming\" to

COMMUNICATION A. provide local color in his' description of the trip.

TECHNIQUE B. show why sails would not be an effective means of power.

C. indicate how pleasant his trip was.

D. prove the effectiveness of the steam engine.

E. do none of the above.

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Passage 2

Men in all ways are better than they seem. They like flattery for the moment, but they know the truth for their own. It is foolish cowardice which keeps us from trusting them and speaking to them rude truth. They resent your honesty for an instant; they will thank you for it always. What is it we heartily wish of each other? Is it to be pleased and flattered? No, but to be convicted and exposed, to be shamed out of our nonsense of all kinds, and made men of, instead of ghosts and phantoms. We are weary of gliding ghostlike through the world, which is itself so slight and unreal. We crave a sense of reality, though it comes in strokes of pain.

Questions for Passage 2

2.1 This passage is mainly about

SUBJECT MATTER A. the value of men.

B. the need for trusting people.

C. the need for becoming a real person in a real world.

D. the need to be able to endure pain.

E. the need for truth in human relations.

2.2 The author's .main thought is that

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GENERALIZATION A. flattery is always acceptable.

B. it is foolish cowardice which holds back our trust.

C. we must be shamed out of our nonsense.

D. reality with its pain can make men better.

E. honesty is sometimes resented but often admired.

2.4 The author advises us to

SIGNIFICANCE A. stop being a ghost.

B. bear in mind that men like flattery.

C. face up to, and express, the truth.

D. stop being a coward even though it .may make enemies.

E. thank people when they tell the unvarnished truth;

2.9 The author points out that \"men are better than they seem\" in order to show that

COMMUNICATION A. it is foolish for us to be cowardly and fear our neighbors.

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TECHNIQUE B. we need not fear' to tell people the truth.

C. people are not really looking for flattery.

D. they are weary of being ghosts.

E. we will find people grateful if we abandon nonsense of all kinds.

Passage 3

Blood vessels running all through the lungs carry blood to each air sac, or alveolus, and then back again to the heart. Only the thin wall of the air sac and the thin wall of a capillary are between the air and the blood. So oxygen easily diffuses, from the air sacs through the walls into the blood, while carbon dioxide easily diffuses from the blood through the walls into the air sacs.

When blood is sent to the lungs by the heart, it has come back from the cells in the rest of the body. So the blood that goes into the wall of an air sac contains much dissolved carbon dioxide but very little oxygen. At the same time, the air that goes into the air sac contains much oxygen but very little carbon dioxide. You have learned that dissolved materials always diffuse from where there is more of them to where there is less. Oxygen from the air dissolves in the moisture on the lining of the air sac and diffuses through the lining into the blood. Meanwhile, carbon dioxide diffuses from the blood into the air sac. The blood then flows from the lungs back to the heart, which sends it out to all other parts of the body.

Soon after the air goes into an air sac, it gives up some of its oxygen and takes in some carbon dioxide from the blood. To keep diffusion going as it should, this carbon dioxide must

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be gotten rid of. Breathing, which is caused by movements of the chest, forces the used air out of the air sacs in your lungs and brings in fresh air. The breathing muscles are controlled automatically so that you breathe at the proper rate to keep your air sacs supplied with fresh air. Ordinarily, you breathe about twenty-two times a minute. Of course, you breathe faster when you are exercising and slower when you are resting. Fresh air is brought into your lungs when you breathe in, or inhale, while used air is forced out of your lungs when you breathe out, or exhale.

Some people think that all the oxygen is taken out of the air in the lungs and that what we breathe out is pure carbon dioxide. But these ideas are not correct. Air is a mixture of gases that is mostly nitrogen. This gas is not used in the body. So the amount of nitrogen does not change as air is breathed in and out. But while air is in the lungs, it is changed in three ways: (1) About one-fifth of the oxygen in the air goes into the blood. (2) An almost equal amount of carbon dioxide comes out of the blood into the air. (3) Moisture from the linings of the air passages and air sacs evaporates until the air is almost saturated.

Questions for Passage 3

3.2 (a) In the respiratory process, the following action takes place:

GENERALIZATION A. diffusion of blood through capillary walls into air sacs.

B. diffusion of carbon dioxide through capillary and air sac walls into the blood.

C. diffusion of oxygen through the air sac and capillary walls into the

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blood.

D. exchange of alveoli and oxygen within air sacs.

E. none of the above.

3.2 (b) While air is in the lungs, it changes In the following way:

GENERALIZATION A. nitrogen is absorbed from the air.

B. about one-fifth of the carbon dioxide and about one-half of the oxygen in the air goes into the blood.

C. the moisture in the air is almost completely evaporated.

D. about one-fifth of the oxygen in the air goes into the blood and an equivalent amount of carbon dioxide enters the air from the blood.

E. none of the above changes are correct.

3.3 The number of times per minute that you breathe is

DETAIL A. independent of your rate of exercise.

B. fixed at twenty-two times per minute.

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C. influenced by your age and sex.

D. controlled automatically by an unspecified body mechanism.

E. dependent upon the amount of fresh air available to you at any given time.

3.5 The process by which carbon dioxide and oxygen are transferred does not depend on

CONCLUSION A. the presence of nitrogen in the blood.

B. the muscles of the thoracic cavity.

C. the flow of blood,

D. the moisture in the air sac linings.

E. the process of diffusion.

3.7 The author's style in this passage can best be described as

TONE A. informal and matter of fact.

B. pedantic.

C. impersonal.

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D. matter of fact.

E. personal.

Passage 4

Another thing to remember in connection with concrete is that you are not allowed very much leeway for errors in either measurements or location. Once you have a solid mass of concrete set in place, it is going to stay there. You have a difficult job ahead of you if you try to remedy a mistake. Make very sure, before you fill the form, that everything is where and how you want it.

There are numerous rules regarding the proper mixing, handling, and finishing of concrete, but the essential one concerns the amount of water to use. The less water in the mix, the less the finished job will shrink. The less water used, the harder and more enduring the job after it has set.

The amateur concrete worker is plagued with two desires. One is to use enough water to have the concrete nice and soft and easy to push around. You have been warned against that. The second is to take off the wooden forms too early, to see what the job looks like. That is really fatal. If the forms are stripped off too soon, while the concrete is still \"green,\" two things are likely to happen -- you are almost sure to break off corners or edges, and you are likely to cause a major crack or defect in the body of the work. An excellent rule is to wait until you are sure the concrete is properly hardened, and then wait another day before removing the forms.

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Questions for Passage 4

4.1 The best title for this selection would be:

SUBJECT MATTER A. Rules for Working with Concrete.

B. Concrete and Its Uses.

C. Concrete, the Homeowner's Joy.

D. Concrete, a Test of Character.

E. How to Finish Concrete.

4.2 Two of the main thoughts in this passage are (1) preparation of forms for the concrete must be thorough, and (2) forms must be allowed to remain on long enough. The third main idea is

GENERALIZATION A. taking off forms beforehand will probably cause a crack in the body of the work.

B. trying to make changes after concrete has been poured is not recommended.

C. mixing concrete properly will make it very hard and strong.

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D. keeping concrete from shrinking as much as possible is desirable.

E. using as little water as possible is recommended.

4.4 In mixing concrete, one of the desires the amateur must resist is to

SIGNIFICANCE A. break off a corner to see if the “green\" has gone.

B. leave the form on too long.

C. strip off the forms a day after the concrete has properly hardened.

D. use too much water.

E. use too little water.

4.5 A human quality apparently not essential in someone who works with concrete is

CONCLUSION A. carefulness. B. patience. C. self-control.

D. sense of spatial relations. E. inventiveness.

4.8 By the concrete being too \"green,\" the author means that the concrete has

VOCABULARY A. become discolored because of its contact with the wooden forms.

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B. become cracked.

C. not yet cured.

D. not dried out.

E. not settled in place.

4.9 In instructing the reader in the intricacies of working with concrete, the author

COMMUNICATION A. gives specific instances of concrete work that went wrong.

TECHNIQUE B. allows the reader to find the solution to the problem from his own experience.

C. overstates the dire consequences of an error.

D. presents each problem and gives its solution.

E. understates the things that may go wrong.

Passage 5

By learning the life cycle of insects, scientists have found ways to control insect pests. The scientists who study insects are called entomologists. Entomologists discover what an

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insect is like in each stage of its development, where it lives, and what it eats. From these facts, a plan for controlling the insect can often be worked out. For example, the eggs of the stalk borer are laid on the stems of wild plants in late summer and stay there all winter. They hatch in May or June, and then the larvae bore into the stems of the wild plants. Later, the larvae move on to cultivated plants, where they again bore into the stems. In August the larvae become pupae in the stems of the cultivated plants. About three weeks later, they come out as adults and lay their eggs on wild plants. Burning the wild plants in late autumn or early spring greatly reduces the number of stalk borers that attack cultivated plants.

Questions for Passage 5

5.1 This paragraph centers on

SUBJECT MATTER A. the life cycles of insects.

B. scientists' use of their life cycles to control insect-pests.

C. the life cycle of the stalk borer.

D. the role of wild plants in the control of the stalk borer.

E. the work of entomologists.

5.2 Select the sentence which best summarizes the main idea of the passage.

GENERALIZATION A. The scientists who study insects are called entomologists.

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B. Burning the wild plants in late autumn or early spring greatly reduces the number of stalk borers that attack cultivated plants.

C. By learning the life cycle of insects, scientists have found ways to control insect pests.

D. Entomologists discover what an insect is like in each state of its development, where it lives, and what it eats.

E. The extent of the damage caused by insects can only be established by entomologists.

5.3 Stalk borer adults appear

DETAIL A. and lay their eggs in cultivated plants.

B. on wild plants reached by them as pupae.

C. on and bore into, stems of wild plants.

D. on cultivated plants reached by them as larvae.

E. from pupae in the stems of wild plants.

5.9 The author describes the life cycle of the stalk borer to show

COMMUNICATION A. that entomologists are scientific.

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TECHNIQUE B. how complicated are the stages of an insect's development.

C. the relationship between wild and cultivated plants.

D. why burning the wild plants in the late autumn or early spring will reduce the number of stalk borers.

E. how facts discovered about insects can be used to control them.

Passage 6

The soft pretzel, a lightly tanned delight, is quite distinct from its younger cousin, the hard and darker pretzel. Pretzel historians will tell you that this soft product originated in northern Italy about 600 A.D. A monk used the leftover strips of dough after baking bread by crossing the ends in familiar loops which represented children’s arms folded in prayer. It was given to children who had learned their prayers as a little reward, or in Latin, \"pretiola\". The idea then caught on over the Alps in Austria where the word became corrupted to \"brezel\

Questions for Passage 6

6.1 This paragraph centers on

SUBJECT MATTER A. pretzels.

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B. the difference between hard and soft pretzels.

C. pretzels and religion.

D. how we got the pretzel.

E. what the pretzel means.

6.2 The main thought here is that

GENERALIZATION A. the creation of the pretzel showed the monk's ingenuity.

B. the giving of a reward to children for successful learning showed the monk's understanding of psychology.

C. the pretzel was created by a monk as a reward for children who had learned their prayers.

D. the \"carrot\" is preferable to the \"stick\" in encouraging learning.

E. expressed by none of the above.

6.3 The pretzel discussed by the author was

DETAIL A. an inducement to learn prayers.

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B. an historical accident.

C. first known as a \"bretzel.\"

D. invented after the hard pretzel.

E. created by the monk mainly to prevent waste.

6.7 The author uses the term pretzel historian to

TONE A. cast doubt on the information in the paragraph.

B. designate the specific branch of historical research.

C. be sarcastic.

D. disclaim responsibility for the information in the passage.

E. introduce a humorous note.

6.9 The author mentions the hard pretzel to

COMMUNICATION A. prove that the light pretzel was invented before the dark pretzel.

TECHNIQUE B. define the pretzel under discussion.

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C. show that the hard pretzel is coarser than the light pretzel.

D. interest the reader.

E. show his wide knowledge of pretzels.

Passage 7

Making a plaster patch a square foot or so in area is considerably more job than filling cracks, but there is no reason why the amateur should not attempt the repair if he makes his preparations properly.

Cut the edges around the opening cleanly, and wet them thoroughly. Make the mix of fresh plaster slightly stiffer (less water) than for the crack repair. Put on a base coat first, which means just enough to cover the lath, and see that it is below the face of the old edges. After this coat has set a little, mix another batch, slightly more fluid, and apply as a finish coat right over it, and smooth it out evenly with the old edges. This method is suggested because the weight of one full coating might be too much, and you would probably have some trouble keeping it in place on the lath.

To smooth off the finished chat nicely, take a straight, smooth piece of wood, with a more or less sharp edge long enough to span the patch, and work it across, back and forth over the new plaster. This will give you an even, smooth surface and avoid the necessity of troweling out any humps or filling in any depressions. In doing this kind of work, it is essential that the water be clean, and free from rust or dirt. If it is not, the patch will be discolored.

Questions for Passage 7

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7.1 Select the most appropriate title for this selection.

SUBJECT MATTER A. Repairing Cracked Ceilings

B. Methods of Mixing Plaster

C. Finishing a Plaster Patch

D. How to Get a Smooth Surface on a Plaster Patch

E. How to Make a Plaster Patch

7.2 In making a plaster patch, the passage does not say you should

GENERALIZATION A. make the mix of fresh plaster softer(more water)than in filling a crack.

B. use a straight piece of wood to work across the patch.

C. use clean water.

D. put on a base coat of plaster first.

E. put a second coat over the first coat.

7.3 One of the important details mentioned in the passage makes it apparent that

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DETAIL A. the first coating of plaster should 'be brought up even with the face of the edges of the patch.

B. the ability of lath to retain plaster is limited.

C. it is advisable to trowel out lumps and fill in depressions to obtain a smooth-surfaced patch.

D. the amateur need have no fear about his ability to make a plaster patch.

E. plaster is prone to develop breaks and cracks.

7.5 This passage hag probably been taken from

CONCLUSION A. a technical manual for plasterers.

B. an article in an encyclopedia about plaster.

C. a newspaper advertisement.

D. a \"how-to-do-it\" article in a magazine for homeowners.

E. instructions on a bag of plaster.

7.8 By \"lath\" the author means

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VOCABULARY A. a machine for shaping an article of wood.

B. wooden lattice work used as the foundation for plaster.

C. the foam or froth resulting from the mixing of plaster and water.

D. the irregular cracks in the old plaster.

E. the paint coating over the old plaster.

Passage 8

(l) Let us look briefly at the main organs -- the lungs. (2) They let oxygen from the air into the blood and give out carbon dioxide. (3) Except for the parts taken up by the heart and the windpipe, the lungs fill almost the entire chest cavity. (4) Inside each lung the bronchial tubes fork like the branches of a tree. (5) That is, they divide and subdivide to form smaller and smaller tubes until they reach every part of the lungs. (6) The linings of all these air passages are covered with tiny living hairs, called cilia, that move back and forth. (7) The movements of the cilia sweep dust and other unwanted materials up and out of the air passages. (8) At the ends of the very smallest bronchial tubes, the air goes into many tiny cup-shaped parts. (9) These are the air sacs, or alveoli, which are arranged around the tubes somewhat like a bunch of grapes on a stem. (10) Scientists have estimated that a person's lungs contain about 600 million air sacs. (11) If the linings of all these sacs formed a single sheet, it would cover the walls of a room 20 feet long, 15 feet wide, and 10 feet high. (12) The lungs are very light, spongy organs because they contain so many bronchial tubes and air sacs.

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Questions for Passage 8

8.1 This passage is mainly about

SUBJECT MATTER A. startling facts about the lungs.

B. the structure of the respiratory system.

C. the functioning of man's breathing apparatus.

D. the structure of the lungs.

E. the organs of the chest cavity.

8.3 The body fids Itself of foreign particles which get into the lungs principally by means of

DETAIL A. hairs. B. alveoli. C. bronchial linings.

D. coughing. E. an undisclosed mechanism.

8.5 The substance that appears to take up most of the space of the chest cavity is that comprising the

CONCLUSION A. windpipe. B. air sacs. C. heart. D. cilia. E. bronchi.

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8.9 Which one of the following sentences from the passage deals with the functioning of the lungs?

COMMUNICATION A. sentence (2) B. sentence (3) C. sentence (4)

TECHNIQUE D. sentence (8) E. sentence (12)

Passage 9

Communication between villages and the nearest town was poor. Roads were bad; there was some attempt to keep them in order, but as each parish was responsible for its own section of road, the state of repair depended on the zeal of the parish officers. There was, however, little wheeled traffic except for farm coaches used by men of wealth. Most traffic was by means of pack horses. Travelers rode on horseback or walked. Since communication was so difficult, the local markets, held weekly at the nearest town, or the fairs, held annually at the greater cities, became important places for the exchange of goods of all kinds.

Questions for Passage 9

9.1 This passage is primarily about

SUBJECT MATTER A. traveling. B. fairs. C. communication.

D. roads. E. the exchange of goods.

9.2 In this passage the author's conclusion that local markets and fairs were Important is based on his statement that

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GENERALIZATION A. communication between villages and towns was poor.

B. roads were bad.

C. there was little wheeled traffic.

D. exchanges of goods took place at the markets.

E. markets and fairs were held periodically.

9.3 Most traffic was not on wheels because

DETAIL A. most people could not afford this means of travel.

B. springless coaches were uncomfortable.

C. pack horses were better than coaches.

D. roads were so bad.

E. of an unspecified reason.

9.5 Poor roads were probably so because of

CONCLUSION A. the costliness of reforms.

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B. politics on a parish level.

C. the competition between parishes.

D. the paucity of traffic.

E. the indolence of local authorities.

9.9 The author's statement about the importance of markets and fairs is

COMMUNICATION A. a conclusion he draws on the basis of his main thought.

TECHNIQUE B. an interesting fact he includes, although it does not bear strictly on the subject matter of the passage.

C. apparently contradicted by the main thought.

D. a historical development which took place after tile time in which the main events of the Passage occurred.

E. a proof he uses to establish his main thought.

Passage 10

Man, even in the lower stages of development, possesses a faculty which, for want of a better name, I shall call Number Sense. This faculty permits him to recognize that something has changed in a small collection when, without his direct knowledge, an object has been

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removed from or added to the collection.

Number sense should not be confused with counting, which is probably of a much later vintage, and involves, as we shall see, a rather intricate mental process. Counting, so far as we know, is an attribute exclusively human, whereas some brute species seem to possess a rudimentary number sense akin to our own. At least, such is the opinion of competent observers of animal behavior, and the theory is supported by a weighty mass of evidence.

Many birds, for instance possess such a number sense. If a nest contains four eggs, one can safely be-taken; but when two are removed, the bird generally deserts. In some unaccountably way the bird can distinguish two from three. But this faculty is by no means confined to birds. In fact, the most striking instance we know is that of the insect called the \"solitary wasp.\" The mother wasp lays her eggs in individual cells and provides each egg with a number of live caterpillars on which the young feed when hatched. Now, the number of victims is remarkably constant for a given species of wasp. Some species provide 5, others, 12, others again as high as 24 caterpillars per cell. But most remarkable is the case of the Genus Eumenus, a variety in which the male is much smaller than the female. In some mysterious

way the mother knows whether the egg will produce a male or a female grub and apportions the quantity of food accordingly: she does not change the species or size of, the prey, but if the egg is male, she supplies it with five victims; if female, with ten.

The regularity in the action of the wasp and the fact that this action is connected with a fundamental function in the life of the insect make this last case less convincing than the one which follows. Here the action of the bird seems to border on the conscious:

A squire was determined to shoot a crow which made its nest in the watchtower of his

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estate. Repeatedly he tried to surprise the bird, but in vain: at the approach of man the crow would leave its nest. From a distant tree it would watchfully wait until the man had left the tower and then return to its nest. One day the squire hit upon a ruse: two men entered the tower, one remained within, the other came out and went on. But the bird was not deceived: it kept away until the man within came out. The experiment was repeated on the succeeding days with two, three, then four men, yet without success. Finally, five men were sent: as before, all entered the tower, and one remained while the other four came out and went away. Here the crow lost count. Unable to distinguish between four and five, it promptly returned to its nest.

Questions for Passage 10

10.2 The main idea of this passage is that

GENERALIZATION A. man's rudimentary number sense is found in lower species.

B. counting is not to be confused with number sense.

C. birds have a limited number sense.

D. animals cannot count.

E. number sense is a primitive form of counting.

10.3 (a) Counting is different from number sense in that counting is

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DETAIL A. dependent on simpler mental activity.

B. farther up the evolutionary scale.

C. found in animals as well as man.

D. Present in animals on the basis of much evidence.

E. the ability to distinguish differences in small sets of objects.

10.3 (b) The author feels that the number sense displayed by Genus Eumenus is

DETAIL A. more remarkable than that of a crow.

B. on a par with that of a crow.

C. less convincing an instance ,than that displayed by the crow because it seems to be instinctive.

D. actually not an instance of what the author is discussing because it is tied to a regular pattern of responses.

E. restricted to the female of this species.

10.3 (c) The crow was finally deceived because

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DETAIL A. it was not afraid of the men in the tower.

B. it did not have a number sense.

C. four men left the tower.

D. it could not distinguish between four and five.

E. it was evening and the crow was unable to count the hunters.

10.5 We can conclude from this passage that number sense in animals appears to be

CONCLUSION A. restricted to about one dozen species or less.

B. related directly to preservation of self or offspring.

C. present chiefly in winged creatures.

D. akin to a faculty possessed by men in all stages of development.

E. as intricate as counting.

Passage 11

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The meridians of longitude are imaginary great circles drawn from pole to pole around the earth. By international agreement, the meridian of longitude passing through Greenwich, England, is numbered zero. The earth is divided into 360 degrees, and the meridians are numbered east and west from Greenwich. There are 180 degrees of longitude east of Greenwich and 180 degrees in the westerly direction. New York has a longitude of 74 degrees west (74°W) which means that it lies on the 74th meridian west of Greenwich.

Since the sun appears to travel around the earth in 24 hours, it will move 360/24 or 15 degrees in one hour. This reasoning can be used by navigators to determine their longitude. Imagine that we have set sail from Greenwich, England, after having set a very accurate clock, or chronometer, to the local, Greenwich time. As we travel westward toward New York, we notice that the sun is going \"slower\" than our chronometer. At the time that our timepiece reads 12 o'clock, the sun has not quite reached the zenith. As a matter of fact, when our clock reads noon, what it really means is that it's noon in Greenwich, England. Our clock continues to tell us the time, not at our present location, but at Greenwich. Let us wait until the sun is directly overhead (noon at our location) and then read the time on our clock. Suppose it reads 1 o'clock. This means that there is one hour's difference in time between our longitude and that of Greenwich. As we mentioned earlier, this corresponds to exactly 15 degrees of longitude, so our longitude must be 15°W. The world is divided into 24 time zones, and each zone corresponds to 15 degrees of longitude. New York is approximately 5 time zones west of Greenwich, so the time difference must be about 5 hours. By maintaining chronometers on Greenwich time, ships can determine their longitude on any sunny day by merely noting the difference in hours between Greenwich time and local sun time and multiplying this difference by 15 degrees.

Of course, longitude gives only half of the information needed to determine our precise

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location. We must also know our latitude, which tells us how far we are north or south of the Equator. The Equator is the zero line for the measurement of latitude. Circles are drawn parallel to the Equator to indicate other values of latitude. There are 90 degrees of south latitude. In the Northern Hemisphere, there is a star called Polaris almost directly over the North Pole. This makes it possible to determine the latitude of a given point by setting our sextant to measure the angle between Polaris, the North Star, and the horizon. Mathematicians tell us that this angle is equal to the latitude at the point in question.

To get an idea of our location, therefore, we need to know local time, Greenwich time, and the angle between Polaris and the horizon.

Questions for Passage 11

11.2 (a) In order to establish the \"fix\" or precise location of a ship, the navigator must know

GENERALIZATION A. his latitude.

B. both his latitude and longitude.

C. local time.

D. the number of degrees he is east or west of Greenwich.

E. his longitude.

11.2 (b) In order to determine latitude, the navigator must know

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GENERALIZATION A. Greenwich time and local time.

B. a good deal of mathematics.

C. the angle between Polaris and the horizon.

11.3 (a) DETAIL D. Greenwich time, local time, and the angle between Polaris and the E. his precise location.

A navigator's chronometer will always show

A. local time.

B. noon time

C. Greenwich time.

D. sun time.

E. the position east or west of Greenwich.

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horizon.

11.3 (b) In relation to the earth, the sun will move

DETAIL A. 7,000 miles per hour.

B. twice as far as Polaris

C. 1/48th of the world's circumference.

D. fifteen degrees in one hour.

E. thirty degrees in one hour.

11.5 It can be inferred from the third paragraph that the number of degrees of latitude in the Northern Hemisphere is

CONCLUSION A. 18° B. 36° C. ° D. 72° E. 90°

11.6 Assume the circumference of the earth to be 21,600 nautical miles, Ten degrees of longitude at the equator would then equal

APPLICATION A. 500 miles.

B. 600 miles,

C. 1,000 miles.

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D: 1,200 miles.

E. an amount which cannot be determined from the data in the passage.

Passage 12

Divide the human race into twenty parts, and there will be nineteen composed of those who work with their hands, and who will never know that there was a Locke in the world; in the twentieth part remaining, how few are there who can read, and among those who can, there will be twenty who read romances, to one who studies science. The number of those who can think is excessively small.

Questions for Passage 12

12.2 The main idea of this passage is that

GENERALIZATION A. too few people read Locke.

B. too many people study romances.

C. too few people know about Locke.

D. too few people can read.

E. too few people can think.

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12.3 According to the author, out of every 1,000 persons, the large approximate number who can think can be put at

DETAIL A. 1 to 2 persons. B. 3 to 8 persons. C. 20 to 40 persons.

D. 20 to 50 persons. E. 50 to 100 persons.

12.7 The author's attitude toward those who know about Locke is one

TONE A. respect. B. disdain. C. adulation.

D. wonder. E. affection.

Passage 13

At this time the state of South Carolina was having hard times. Year after year the soil had been planted to the same crop. It was farmed by uneducated and careless slaves, and the planters knew little about soil conservation. Because the soil was beginning to wear out, crops were smaller. The younger people were not satisfied to raise cotton on the poor soil of the old South. Many of them moved westward and started cotton plantations in Alabama and Mississippi. Moreover, so much cotton had been shipped to factories in England and New England that they had as much cotton as they could use. This brought the price of cotton down. More and more slaves were needed to work on the new and larger plantations, and higher and higher prices were demanded for them. Planters found their expenses rising and their incomes from the sale of cotton reduced. Hard times had come to South Carolina.

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Questions for Passage 13

13.1 The subject of this passage is

SUBJECT MATTER A. ignorance of planters about farming.

B. economic rivalry in the South.

C. the Secession -- its causes.

D. deterioration of the soil in South Carolina.

E. economic difficulties of South Carolina.

13.2 Which of the following sentences comes closest to summarizing the main idea of the passage?

GENERALIZATION A. Hard times had come to South Carolina.

B. Planters found their expenses rising and their incomes from the sale of cotton reduced.

C. The soil was farmed by uneducated and careless slaves.

D. Year after year the soil of South Carolina had been planted with the

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same crop.

E. Because the soil was beginning to wear out, crops were smaller.

13.3 In discussing the economy of South Carolina, one of the author's assumptions is that the reader understands

DETAIL A. the feelings of young people.

B. the lack of knowledge on the part of planters and slaves.

C. farming methods in use at the time.

D. the law of supply and demand.

E. why more slaves were needed.

13.5 Plantations grew in size in South Carolina principally because

CONCLUSION A. demand for cotton had slackened.

B. crops became diversified.

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C. planters grew richer.

D. soil was less productive.

E. places had to be found for young people.

13.9 The fact that cotton prices were falling is mentioned by the author to show that

COMMUNICATION A. cotton shipments should have been regulated.

TECHNIQUE B. poorer soil produced poorer quality crops.

C. the planters were having hard times.

D. the planter's ignorance of soil management resulted in economic loss.

E. there were reasons why young people moved westward.

Passage 14

As to living a spiritual life, he never tackled that problem. Some men who accept spiritual beliefs, try to live up to them daily; other men, who reject such beliefs, try sometimes to smash them. My father would have disagreed with both kinds entirely. He took a more distant attitude. It disgusted him when atheists attacked religion; he thought they were vulgar. But he also objected to have religion make demands upon him -- he felt that religion

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too was vulgar, when it tried to stir up men's feelings. It had its own proper field of activity, and it was all right there, of course; but there was one place religion should let alone, and that wash man's soul. He especially loathed any talk of walking hand in hand with his Savior. And if he had ever found the Holy Ghost trying to soften his heart, he would have regarded its behavior as distinctly uncalled for; even ungentlemanly.

Questions for Passage 14

14.5 The author's father probably felt that organized religion was

CONCLUSION A. acceptable if kept within certain bounds.

B. concerned with man's salvation.

C. a threat which should be eliminated.

D. a spiritual problem which did not concern him.

E. unnecessary.

14.7 The author's treatment of his father's religious attitudes basically reflects

TONE A. amusement. B disapproval. C. irreverence.

D. disappointment. E. sarcasm

Passage 15

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The other terror that scares us from self-trust is our consistency; a reverence for our past act or word because the eyes of others have no other data for computing our orbit than our past acts, and we are loath to disappoint them. But why should you keep your head over your shoulder? Why drag about this monstrous corpse of your memory lest you contradict somewhat you have stated in this or that public place? Suppose you should contradict yourself; what then? It seems to be a rule of wisdom never to rely on your memory alone, scarcely even in acts of pure memory, but to bring the past for judgment into the thousand-eyed present, and live ever in a new day. Trust your emotion.

Questions for Passage 15

15.2 The main idea of this passage is that

GENERALIZATION A. being inconsistent will help us to build self-confidence.

B. our emotion is a better guide to decisions than our memory.

C. our memory is deceptive.

D. we should not be afraid to offend or shock others by contradicting ourselves.

E. our concern with being consistent prevents us from trusting our judgment in the present.

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15.4 Instead of \"keeping our head over our shoulder,\" we should

SIGNIFICANCE A. trust our emotion rather than our judgment.

B. not allow our recollection of our past acts to determine our present acts or words.

C. be consistently inconsistent.

D. shrug off public statements.

E. ignore the past.

15.5 The author has introduced an apparent contradiction into the passage by his statement about

CONCLUSION A. terror and consistency.

B. corpse and memory.

C. judgment and emotion.

D. never relying on pure memory.

E. speaking in public and contradicting ourselves.

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15.7 The author's style in this passage seems best characterized as

TONE A. respectful. B. didactic. C. diffident.

D. persuasive. E. none of the above.

15.8 The author calls memory a \"monstrous corpse\" because

VOCABULARY A. it hinders our fresh appraisal of the current situation.

B. he feels that it is useless to remember what is past.

C. we are terrified by the fear of forgetting.

D. it gives others a way of judging us.

E. it stifles our emotion.

Passage 16

Clothes poles and clothes dryers are quite often out of plumb, and nothing makes a yard look untidier than these appurtenances if they are out of a vertical position. They can be taken up and a hole dug of the proper depth, which is about 3 inches greater than the diameter of the pole. The pole should be reset, plumbed up and fastened temporarily by light strips of wood nailed to it and to stakes driven into the ground. Concrete should be

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poured all around and tamped into, place and allowed to set thoroughly before the temporary bracing is removed.

Questions for Passage 16

16.1 A good title for this selection would be

SUBJECT MATTER A. Ugly Backyards

B. The Use of Concrete in Setting Clothes Poles.

C. How to Align Clothes Poles.

D. How to Set a Clothes Pole Straight.

E. Clothes Poles and Clothes Dryers.

16.2 The best general statement giving the sense of this passage is that

GENERALIZATION A. the best way to straighten clothes poles is to take them out and reinstall them.

B. the key to working with clothes poles is to brace them temporarily.

C. backyard appurtenances should be installed by using concrete.

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D. clothes poles can be set straight by following several steps.

E. clothes poles are too often not installed correctly.

16.3 In digging a hole in which to set the pole of a clothes dryer, the hole should be

DETAIL A. as deep as the diameter plus three inches.

B. three inches deep.

C. as wide as the diameter of the pole plus three inches.

D. the thickness of the pole through the diameter plus three inches.

E. none of the above.

16.8 By \"out of plumb\" the author means

VOCABULARY A. not vertical. B. not horizontal. C. out of line.

D. bent. E. too short.

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16.9 The function of sentence 1 in this passage is to

COMMUNICATION A. introduce the subject of home beautification.

TECHNIQUE B. give specific instructions about the installation of clothes dryers,

C. serve as transition between this passage and matters previously discussed.

D. give the real reason why the author took the trouble to write the passage.

E. show why the rest of the passage should be read.

Passage 17

Uppermost in a tourist's imagination is the fact that Yucatan is still the tranquil mystical land of the Mayas, so full of timeless legend and superstition that fact and fantasy can not be told apart. For all the Spanish Conquest it is now, as it has always been, the home of the Mayas, those slim little sad-eyed Indians with drooping eyelids -- a dark skinned and fragile-looking race. As with all ancient peoples, the past is as real and evident to the mind as the present. The Mayas worship the God of their conquerors. But in the ruined cities of the jungle, they still secretly burn candles to the old idols.

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Questions for Passage 17

17.1 The title below that best expresses the idea of this passage is

SUBJECT MATTER A. Yucatan, Home of the Mayas.

B. The Ancient Religion of the Mayas.

C. The Persistence of Mayan Culture.

D. Effects of the Spanish Conquest.

E. Legends of Yucatan.

17.3 The people of Yucatan publicly worship

DETAIL A. Mayan gods.

B. ancient idols.

C. Spanish conquistadors.

D. the Christian Deity.

E. only when forced to.

17.9 The author of this passage achieves his purpose by depending mainly upon

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COMMUNICATION A. carefully chosen adjectives and adverbs.

TECHNIQUE B. carefully reasoned proofs which support his main thought.

C. a series of well-supported statements which carry conviction because they are stated categorically.

D. the reader's lack of familiarity with the subject matter.

E. none of the above.

Passage 18

The coastal area of North Africa is almost as pleasant as southern California, with hot, dry summers, and consistently heavy rains in winter. The forested mountains of Morocco and Algeria have a heavy winter snowfall, and excellent skiing grounds. Temperatures in the coastland's higher altitudes fall below freezing on winter nights. South of the mountains and plateaus the true desert begins. It is not a continuous sea of land; some parts are great stretches of picturesque dunes, but others are rim rock and gravel, not at all flat, and one may travel for days and see scarcely any sand. Rains fall rarely, though then in such large doses that bivouac commanders should take care not to make camp in a ravine. Winter nights are bitterly cold.

Questions for Passage 18

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18.1 A good title for this selection would be

SUBJECT MATTER A. Responsibilities of Bivouac Commanders.

B. Geography of North Africa.

C. The Coastal Region of North Africa.

D. Floods and Droughts.

E. Climate of North Africa.

18.2 The main thought of this passage is that

GENERALIZATION A. the climatic conditions of North Africa have great similarity to our own country.

B. North Africa includes a coastal area like southern California, forested mountains, and true desert

C. the coastal area of North Africa is almost as pleasant as southern California.

D. bivouac commanders should be prepared for the advantages and disadvantages of the North African topography.

E. the true desert is varied in its topography.

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18.3 South of the mountains and plateaus

DETAIL A. rains fall consistently in winter.

B. rains fall rarely.

C. rains, when they fall, fall in negligible quantities.

D. no rains ever fall.

E. none of the above are true.

18.4 The author suggests that the traveler not sleep in ravines because

SIGNIFICANCE A. the cold of winter nights settles to the lowest part of the plains.

B. the ravines are rocky and therefore unsuitable for camping.

C. sudden rain floods could drawn the traveler.

D. morning dew settles into the ravines, making them wet and uncomfortable.

E. of none of the above.

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18.8 The author portrays the desert south of the mountains as \"not a continuous sea of land.\" By saying that phrase the author means that

VOCABULARY A. the desert is never wet.

B. the desert is unlike the sea because its scenery is varied.

C. the hills of the desert do not resemble the waves of the sea.

D. the desert extends from horizon to horizon just like the sea.

E. the desert is like the sea because of its dryness and barrenness.

Passage 19

The child is not just young -- it is not simply a matter of his having lived a shorter time than the adult. The fact that we should always keep in mind in considering children is that they are incomplete beings, that they are growing and developing, that they are men in the making, and the making is a very active process. Roughly speaking, this activity is in inverse ratio to the age of the child. For example, there is a greater difference between a child of five and one of two than there is between a child of five and one of eight. Again, there is a greater difference between a child of ten and one of fifteen than between a man of thirty and one of forty. These differences express themselves not so much in variations of size or form but most distinctly in function, that is, in the varying ability of the individual to adapt himself to

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his environment. In short, the most marked difference between the child of two and that of five, and the child of five and one of eight, lies in the capacity for social adaptation of each one, and this is equally true all the way among the ladder of years.

Questions for Passage 19

19. 5 In comparing the thirties in a person's life with his twenties, we can conclude that

CONCLUSION A. more \"growth\" takes place.

B. less \"growth\" takes place.

C. an equal amount of '\"growth\" takes place.

D. growth of a different kind takes place.

E. none of the above are true.

19.6 Of the following five evidences of growth in a child, which do you feel would be of least concern to the author?

APPLICATION A. achieving sufficient coordination to catch a ball.

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B. being accept into a club.

C. attending his father's height.

D. learning to bring in the newspaper.

E. learning to skate.

19.9 In discussing aging and growth, the author develops his passage by

COMMUNICATION A. discussing various aspects of growth in the life of child, adolescent, TECHNIQUE and adult.

B. devoting so much space to the factor rate of growth that he fails to make his point.

C. making unsupported generalizations about three specific aspects of growth.

D making a general statement and then marshalling proofs to support it.

E. advancing a definition of growth and then elaborating it by making further distinctions within the definition.

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Passage 20

The day had gone by just as days go by. I had killed it in accordance with my primitive and retiring way of life. I had worked for an hour or two and perused the pages of old books. I had had pains for two hours, as elderly people do. I had taken a powder and been very glad when the pains consented to disappear. I had lain in a hot bath and absorbed its kindly warmth. Three times the post had come with undesired letters and circulars to look through. I had done my breathing exercises, but found it convenient today to omit the thought exercises. I had been for an hour's walk and seen the loveliest feathery cloud patterns pencilled against the sky. That was very delightful. So was the reading of the old books. So was the lying in the warm bath. But, taken all in all, it had not been exactly a day of rapture. No, it had not even been a day brightened with happiness and joy. Rather, it had been just one of those days which for a long while now had fallen to my lot; the moderately pleasant, the wholly bearable and tolerable, lukewarm days of a discontented middle-aged man: days without special pains, without special cares, without particular worry, without despair, days which put the questions quietly of their own accord whether the time has not come to follow the example of Adalbert Stifter and have a fatal accident while shaving.

Questions for Passage 20

20.2 The storyteller considers having a fatal accident because

GENERALIZATION A. his surroundings are dreary.

B. he has suicidal, tendencies.:

C. his life has lost meaning.

D. he has a fatal disease.

E. he is old.

20.8 By his \"primitive, retiring way of life,\" the author refers to a life

VOCABULARY A. restricted to biological functions.

B. devoid of cultural interests.

C. of simple experiences not dependent upon civilization.

D. in which social contact, with its attendant complex relationships is missing.

E. of deep emotion.

20.9 The author starts seven sentences with the phrase \"1 had ...\" He does this

COMMUNICATION A. because he is a poor writer.

TECHNIQUE B. to emphasize that, the story is told in the first person.

C. to show that, not being a writer, he is unskilled with words.

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D. to emphasize his loneliness.

E. tot reflect the monotony of his own life.

Passage 21

Literary persons, even the greatest, are seldom spectacular. Those who lead lives of heroic action have neither the time nor usually the desire, even if they have the ability, to express themselves in writing. Those who gallop down valleys of death do not sing about that experience; they leave it to gentle poets living comfortably in country retreats. Moreover, to be a great writer one must spend more of one's time at a table in the laborious and wholly prosaic act of writing. Few writers attract a Boswell, and unless the details of their lives, their sayings, and their oddities happen to be preserved in writing, they soon become little more than a name. Even with all the elaborate apparatus of modern publicity, few readers could without notice write more of the biography of any living writer than could be contained on a postcard. The word is always so much greater than the man.

Questions for Passage 21

21.2 The main idea of this passage is that

GENERALIZATION A. most literary men would prefer to lead lives of action.

B. what writers write is more significant than what they do.

C. the man of action is often a poor writer.

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D. most readers are uninformed about the lives of writers.

E. most writers are merely names to the public.

21.3 Most men who lead a life of heroic action do not write because

DETAIL A. they are often illiterate.

B. they are too modest.

C. they are either too busy, uninterested, or both.

D. writing requires a gentleness which men of action lack.

E. Of none of the above reasons.

21.5 The author's remarks about \"modern publicity\" Imply that

CONCLUSION A. publishing houses have wasted their time trying to publicize writers.

B. publicity today is more effective in making lives of writers well known.

C. most readers are immune to the apparatus of modern publicity,

D. publicity does little good.

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E. none of the above are true.

21.8 (a) \"Those who gallop down the valleys of death\" refers to people who

VOCABULARY A. have known suffering.

B. do not fear death.

C. lead daring lives of action.

D. are modest about their experiences.

E. are literary in their pursuits.

21.8 (b) The word \"prosaic\" as used by the author means most nearly

VOCABULARY A. unpoetical.

B. exhausting.

C. creative.

D. dull.

E. romantic.

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22.6 If the temperature at the earth's surface is twenty degrees Fahrenheit the temperature in a coal mine 500 feet below the surface would, in degrees, be

APPLICAT'ION A. 30. B: 40. C. 50. D. 120. E. 500.

Passage 22

Geologists have been studying volcanoes for a long time. Though they have learned a great deal, they still have not discovered the causes of volcanic action. They know that the inside of the earth is very hot, but they are not sure exactly what causes the great heat. Some geologists have thought that the heat is caused by the great pressure of the earth's outer layers. Or the heat may be left from the time when the earth was formed. During the last sixty years scientists have learned about radium, uranium, thorium, and other radioactive elements. These give out heat all the time as they change into other elements. Many scientists now believe that much of the heat inside the earth is produced by radioactive elements.

Whatever the cause of the heat may be, we do know that the earth gets hotter the farther down we dig. In deep mines and oil wells the temperature rises about 1°F for each 50 feet. At this rate the temperature 40 miles below the earth's surface would be over 4,000°F. This is much hotter than necessary to melt rock. However, the pressure of the rock above keeps most materials from melting at their usual melting points. Geologists believe that the rock deep in the earth may be plastic, or putty-like. In other words, the rock yields slowly to pressure but is not liquid. But if some change in the earth's crust releases the pressure, the rock melts. Then the hot, liquid rock can move up toward the surface.

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When the melted rock works its way close to the earth's crust, a volcano may be formed. The melted rock often contains steam and other gases under great pressure. If the rock above gives way, the pressure is released. Then the sudden expansion of the gases causes explosions. These blow the melted rock into pieces of different sizes and shoot them high in the air. Here they cool and harden into volcanic ash and cinders. Some of this material falls around the hole made in the earth's surface. The melted rock may keep on rising and pour out as lava. In this way, volcanic ash, cinders, and lava build up the cone-shaped mountains that we call volcanoes.

Questions for Passage 22

22.1 The subject of this passage is the

SUBJECT MATTER A. formation of volcanoes.

B. results of volcanic action.

C. work of geologists.

D. interior of the earth.

E. causes of the earth's internal heat.

22.3 The cause for the heat in the interior of the earth is

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DETAIL A. radioactive elements.

B. the great pressure of the earth.

C. not determined.

D. the heat remaining from the formation of the earth.

E. volcanic action in the interior of the earth.

22.5 From the information given in the passage, most minerals would melt fastest

CONCLUSION A. at 4000°F. at sea level.

B. at 4000°F, 5000 feet below sea level.

C. in the absence of oxygen.

D. at the exact center of the earth at 4000°.

E. at 4000°F, 5000 feet above sea level.

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