Unit 1 Review & Test

For each of Questions 1-4, select one entry for each blank from the corresponding column of choices.

1. Parents often live --------- lives through their children, and they do so with great

pride.

(A) sensory

(B) vicarious

(C) dexterous

(D) despondent

(E) sporadic

2. Throughout the winter, nothing aroused the bear from his ---------: he would not

emerge from hibernation until spring.

(A) lethargy

(B) collaboration

(C) resilience

(D) retrospect

(E) ambiguity

3. On occasion, the coaches thought Peters (i) --------- attitude was a (ii) --------- to

her play on the soccer field.

Blank i Blank ii

(A) scrupulous (D) discretion

(B) gregarious (E) lethargy

(C) facetious (F) detriment

4. Not being a (i) --------- ruler, she ordered the use of force to (ii) --------- the people

who accused him of using the countrys reserves to invest on (iii) ----------

projects, believed by all experts to be of no use to anyone.

Blank I Blank ii Blank iii

(A) sporadic (D) squelch (G) inadvertent

(B) scrupulous (E) fritter away (H) despondent

(C) ostentatious (F) scoff at (I) inane

blank, fit the meaning of the sentence as a whole and produce completed sentences that are alike in

meaning.

5. Untempered by any ---------, she spread an ever more militant message to her

followers.

(A) dissidents

(B) wisdom

(C) zealots

(D) discretion

(E) lethargy

(F) retrospect

6. Although my grandmothers English vocabulary was limited to a few ---------

phrases, she always could make herself understood.

(A) ambiguous

(B) inadvertent

(C) unintentional

(D) rudimentary

(E) foolish

(F) basic

Question 7 is based on this passage.

An electric-power company gained greater profits and provided electricity to consumers at lower rates per unit of

electricity by building larger-capacity more efficient plants and by stimulating greater use of electricity within its area.

To continue these financial trends, the company planned to replace an old plant by a plant with triple the capacity of

its largest plant.

7. The company's plan as described above assumed each of the following

EXCEPT:

(A) Demand for electricity within the company's area of service would

increase in the future.

efficiency or volume of operation, or both.

(C) The planned plant would be sufficiently reliable in service to contribute a

net financial benefit to the company as a whole.

(D) Safety measures to be instituted for the new plant would be the same as

those for the plant it would replace.

(E) The tripling of capacity would not result in insuperable technological

obstacles to efficiency.

Question 8 is based on this passage.

Installing scrubbers in smokestacks and switching to cleaner-burning fuel are the two methods available to Northern

Power for reducing harmful emissions from its plants. Scrubbers will reduce harmful emissions more than cleaner-

burning fuels will. Therefore, by installing scrubbers, Northern Power will be doing the most that can be done to

reduce harmful emissions from its plants.

8. Which of the following is an assumption on which the argument

depends?

(A) Switching to cleaner-burning fuel will not be more expensive than

installing scrubbers.

(B) Northern Power can choose from among various kinds of scrubbers, some

of which are more effective than others.

(C) Northern Power is not necessarily committed to reducing harmful

emissions from its plants.

(D) Harmful emissions from Northern Powers plants cannot be reduced more

by using both methods together than by the installation of scrubbers

alone.

(E) Aside from harmful emissions from the smokestacks of its plants, the

activities of Northern Power do not cause significant air pollution.

Question 9 is based on this passage.

What if someone told you about a kind of grass that grows as tall as the tallest trees? A grass that can be made as

strong as steel? A grass from which houses, furniture, boats, and hundreds of other useful things can be made? A
grass that you would even enjoy eating? Would you believe that person? You should, for that grass is bamboo, the

wood of 1,001 uses.

Bamboo may look like wood, but it is part of the family of plants that includes wheat, oats, and barley. It is a kind

of grass. This grass is not just a material for making useful products. Young bamboo is eaten, often mixed with other

vegetables, in many Asian foods.

Bamboo grows in many parts of the world. In the United States it grows in an area from Virginia west to Indiana

and south to Florida, Louisiana, and Texas. Most bamboo, however, is found in warm, wet climates, especially in Asia

and on the islands of the South Pacific Ocean.

In most Asian countries, bamboo is nearly as important as rice. Many Asians live in bamboo houses. They sit on

bamboo chairs and sleep on bamboo mats. They fence their land with bamboo and use the wood for cages for chickens

and pigs.

Bamboo is used to build large buildings as well as homes. When it is glued in layers, it becomes as strong as steel.

On some islands in the South Pacific, bamboo is even used for water pipes. This extraordinary material has many

other uses. It is used to make musical instruments, such as flutes and recorders. Paper made from bamboo has been

highly prized by artists for thousands of years.

Bamboo is light and strong, and it bends without breaking. It is cheap, floats on water, almost never wears out,

and is easy to grow. Nothing else on earth grows quite so fast as bamboo. At times you can even see it grow! Botanists

have recorded growths of more than three feet in just twenty-four hours! Bamboo is hollow and has a strong root

system that almost never stops growing and spreading. In fact, only after it flowers, an event that may happen only

once every thirty years, will bamboo die.

There are more than a thousand kinds of bamboo. The smallest is only three inches tall and one-tenth of an inch

across. The largest reaches more than two hundred feet in height and seven inches in diameter. No wonder, then, that

the lives of nearly half the people on earth would change enormously if there were no longer any bamboo. No wonder,

too, that to many people bamboo is a symbol of happiness and good fortune.

9. What is the main idea of this passage?

(A) Bamboo has at least 2,000 uses.

(B) Bamboo grows at an amazing rate and is found primarily in Asia.

(C) Bamboo is an amazing grass that can be used in multiple ways.

(D) There are at least a 1,000 types of bamboo.

(E) Bamboo could be considered a flower in some cases.

Question 10 is based on this passage.

into a major line of work. Since 1980 the United States International Trade Commission (ITC) has received about 280

complaints alleging damage from imports that benefit from subsidies by foreign governments. Another 340 charge

that foreign companies dumped their products in the United States at less than fair value. Even when no unfair

practices are alleged, the simple claim that an industry has been injured by imports is sufficient grounds to seek relief.

Contrary to the general impression, this quest for import relief has hurt more companies than it has helped. As

corporations begin to function globally, they develop an intricate web of marketing, production, and research

relationships. The complexity of these relationships makes it unlikely that a system of import relief laws will meet the

strategic needs of all the units under the same parent company.

Internationalization increases the danger that foreign companies will use import relief laws against the very

companies the laws were designed to protect. Suppose a United States-owned company establishes an overseas plant

to manufacture a product while its competitor makes the same product in the United States. If the competitor can

prove injury from the importsand that the United States company received a subsidy from a foreign government to

build its plant abroadthe United States companys products will be uncompetitive in the United States, since they

would be subject to duties.

Perhaps the most brazen (marked by contemptuous boldness) case occurred when the ITC investigated allegations

that Canadian companies were injuring the United States salt industry by dumping rock salt , used to de-ice roads.

The bizarre aspect of the complaint was that a foreign conglomerate with United States operations was crying for help

against a United States company with foreign operations. The United States company claiming injury was a

subsidiary of a Dutch conglomerate, while the Canadian companies included a subsidiary of a Chicago firm that was

the second-largest domestic producer of rock salt.

10. The passage is chiefly concerned with

(A) arguing against the increased internationalization of United States

corporations

(B) warning that the application of laws affecting trade frequently has

unintended consequences

(C) demonstrating that foreign-based firms receive more subsidies from

their governments than United States firms receive from the United

States government

(D) advocating the use of trade restrictions for dumped products but not

for other imports

(E) recommending a uniform method for handling claims of unfair trade

practices
Answer key: 1. B 2. A 3.C/F 4. B/D/I 5. B/D 6. D/F 7. D 8.D 9. C 10.B