Section 3

Reading Comprehension
Ti•••• : 55 minut•• (including the •.•• ding of the directions)
Now s.t your clock for 55 minut.s.

Directions: In this section you will read several passages. Each one is followed by
several questions about it. For questions 1-50, you are to choose the one best answer,
(A), (B), (C), or (D), to each question. Then, on your 'answer sheet, find the number
of the question and fill in the space that corresponds to the letter of the answer you
have chosen.
Answer all questions following a passage on the basis of what is stated or implied in
that passage.
Read the following passage:
The railroad was not the first institution to impose regularity on society, or to
draw attention to the importance of precise timekeeping. For as long as merchants
have set out their wares at daybreak and communal festivities have been celebrated,
Line people have been in rough agreement with their neighbors as to the time of day. The
(5) value of this tradition is today more apparent than ever. Were it not for public
acceptance of a single yardstick of time, social life would be unbearably chaotic:
the massive daily transfers of goods, services, and information would proceed in
fits and starts; the very fabric of modem society would begin to unravel. .
Example I Sample Answer
What is the main idea of the passage? <E> <B:> • <ID
(A) In modem society we must make more time
for our neighbors.
(B) The traditions of society are timeless.
(C) An accepted way of measuring time is essential
for the smooth functioning of society.
(D) Society judges people by the times at which
they conduct certain activities.
The main idea of the passage is that societies need to agree about how time is to be
measured in order to function smoothly. Therefore, you should choose (C).
Example II Sample Answer
In line 5, the phrase "this tradition" refers to <E> <B:> ~ •
(A) the practiGe of starting the business day at dawn
(B) friendly relations between neighbors
(C) the railroad's reliance on time schedules
(0) people's agreement on the measurement of time
The phrase "this tradition" refers to the preceding clause, "people have been in rough
agreement with their neighbors as to the time of day." Therefore, you should choose (D).
Now begin work on the questions.

Practice Test A 29
 Questions 1-10

The growth of cities, the construction of hundreds of new factories, and the spread of
railroads in the United States before 1850 had increased the need for better illumination.
But the lighting in American homes had improved very little over that of ancient times.
Line Through the colonial period, homes were lit with tallow candles or with a lamp of the
(5) \dnd used in ancient Rome - a di$ of fish oil or other animal or vegetable oil in which
a twisted rag served as a wick. Some people used lard, but they had to heat charcoal
underneath to keep it soft and burnable. The sperm whale provided a superior burning
oil, but this was expensive. In 1830 a new substance called "camphene" was patented,
and it proved to be an excellent illuminant. But while camphene gave a bright light it
(10) too remained expensive, had an unpleasant odor, and also was dangerously explosive.
Between 1830 and 1850 it seemed that the only hope for cheaper illumination in the
United States was in the wider use of gas. In the 1840's American gas manufacturers
adopted improved British techniques for producing illuminating gas from coal. But the
expense of piping gas to the consumer remained so high that until midcentury gaslighting
(15) was feasible only in urban areas, and only for public buildings or for the wealthy.
In 1854 a Canadian doctor, Abraham Gesner, patented a process for distilling a
pitchlike mineral found in New Brunswick and Nova Scotia that produced illuminating
gas and an oil that he called "kerosene" (from "kerns," the Greek word for wax, and
"ene" because it resembled camphene). Kerosene, though cheaper than camphene,
(20) had an unpleasant odor, and Gesner never made his fortune from it. But Gesner had
aroused a new hope for making an illuminating oil from a product coming out of
North American mines.

1. Which of the following is NOT 3. Theword ''this'' in line 8 refers to

mentioned as a reason why better (A)lard
lighting had become necessary by (B)charcoal
the mid-nineteenth century? (C)wick
(A) Development of railroads (0)oil
(B) Demand for better medical
facilities 4. Which of the following is NOT
(C) Increases in the number of mentioned as a disadvantage of
new factories camphene?
(0) Growth of cities (A) High cost
(B) Bad smell
2. The phrase "served as" in line 6 is (C) Potential to explode
closest in meaning to (0) Greasy texture
(A) differed from
(B) functioned as
(C) rested upon
(0) reacted to

30 Practice Test A
5. What can be inferred about the 8. The word "it" in line 20 refers to
illuminating gas described in the (A) fortune
second paragraph? (B) odor -
(A) It was first developed in the (C) camphene
United States. (D) kerosene
(B) It was not allowed to be used
in public buildings. 9. Which of the following best
(C) It was not widely available describes the organization of the
until midcentury. . passage?
(D) It had an unpleasant smell. (A) A description of events in
chronological order
6. The word "resembled" in line 19 (B) A comparison of two events
is closest in meaning to (C) The statement of a theory and
(A) was similar to possible explanations
(B) cost the same as (D) An analysis of scientific
(C) was made from findings
(D) sounded like
10. Where in the passage does the
7. According to the passage, what author mention the origin of a
advantage did the kerosene word?
patented by Gesner have over (A) Lines 4-6 ,
camphene? (B) Lines 7-8
(A) Kerosene had a more pleasant (C) Lines 12-13
smell. (D) Lines 16-19
(B) Kerosene was less expensive.
(C) Kerosene burned more
brightly.
(D) Kerosene was safer to use.

Practice Test A 31
 Questions 11.21

The penny press, which emerged in the United States during the 1830's, waS a
powerful agent of mass communication. These newspapers were little dailies, generally
four pages in length, written for the mass taste. They differed from the staid, formal
line presentation of the conservative press, with its emphasis on political and literary topics.
(5) The new papers were brief and cheap, emphasizing sensational reports of police courts
and juicy scandals as well as human interest stories. Twentieth-century journalism was
already foreshadowed in the penny press of the 1830's.
The New York Sun, founded in 1833, was the first sil'ccessful penny paper, and it
was followed two years later by the New York Herald, published by James Gordon
(10) Bennett. Not long after, Horace Greeley issued the New York Tribune, which was
destined to become the most influential paper in America. Greeley gave space to th~
issues that deeply touched the American people before the Civil War- abolitionism,
temperance, free homesteads, Utopian cooperative settlements, and the problems of
labor. The weekly edition of the Tribune, with 100,000 subscribers, had a remarkable
(15) influence in rural areas, especially in Western communities. .
Americans were reputed to be the most avid readers of periodicals in the world. An
English observer enviously calculated that, in 1829, the number of newspapers circulated
in Great Britain was enough to reach only one out of every thirty-six inhabitants weekly;
Pennsylvania in that same year had a newspaper circulation which reached one out of
(20) every four inhabitants weekly. Statistics seemed to justify the common belief that
Americans were devoted to periodicals. Newspapers in the United States increased from
1,200 in 1833 to 3,000 by the early 1860's, on the eve of the Civil War. This far exceeded
the number and circulation of newspapers in England and France.

11. What is the author's main point in 12. What does the author mean by the
the first paragraph? statement in lines 6-7 that
(A) The penny press was modeled twentieth-century journalism was
on earlier papers. foreshadowed by the penny press?
(B) The press in the nineteenth (A) The penny press darkened the
century reached only a small reputation of newswriting.
proportion of the population. (B) Twentieth-century journalism
(C) The penny press became an is more important than
important way of nineteenth-century
disseminating information journalism.
in the first half of the (C) Penny-press news reporting
nineteenth century. was more accurate than that
(0) The penny press focused in twentieth-century
mainly on analysis of newspapers.
politics. (D) Modem news coverage is
similar to that done by the
penny press.

32 Pracllce TeSI A
13. Which of the following would 17. The word "avid" in line 16 is
LEAST likely be in a penny-press closest in meaning to
paper? (A) intelligent
(A) A report of theft of union (B) eager
funds by company officials (C) critical
(B) An article about a little girl (D) thrifty
returning a large amount of
18. The figures concerning newspaper
money she found in the
circulation in Pennsylvania in
street
1829 are relevant because they
(C) A scholarly analysis of an
economic issue of national (A) explain why so many different
importance periodicals were published
(0) A story about land being (B) prove that weekly periodicals
given away in the West were more successful than
daily papers
14. Theword "it" in line 8 refers to (C) show the difference between
reading habits before and
(A)the Np.w York Sun
after the Civil War
(B)the New York Herald
(0) support the belief that
(C)America
Americans were
(0) the Civil War
enthusiastic readers of
periodicals
15. Who was Horace Greeley (line 10)?
(A) The publisher of the first 19. The word "justify" in line 20 is
penny-press paper to make a closest in meaning to
profit .(A) generate
(B) The founder of the penny- (B) calculate
press paper that did the (C) modify
most to influence the (D) prove
thinking of the public
(C) The most successful writer for 20. The third paragraph; s developed
the p(;nny press primarily by means of
(0) The man who took over (A) descriptions
James Gordon Bennett's (B) contrasts
penny-press paper and made (C) ordering events in time
it successful sequence
(0) analysis of a process
16. The word "remarkable" in line 14
21. It can be inferred that penny-press
is closest in meaning to
newspapers were all of the
(A) significant following EXCEPT
(B) discussable

•.•
(A) inexpensive
(C) remote
(B) informal
(0) uneven
(C) profitable

~)~

Practice Test A 33
 Questions 22-34

Broad-tailed hummingbirds often nest in quaking aspens, slender deciduous trees with
smooth, gray-green bark:found in the Colorado Rockies of the western United States.
After flying some 2,000 kilometers north from where they have wintered in Mexico, the
Line hummingbirds need six weeks to build a nest, incubate their eggs, and raise the chicks.
(5) A second nest is feasible only if the first fails early in the season. Quality, not quantity,
is what counts in hummingbird reproduction. .
A nest on the lowest intact branch of an aspen will give a hummingbird a good view,
a clear flight .path, and protection for her young. Male hummingbirds claim feeding
territories in open meadows where, from late May through June, they mate with females
(10) coming to feed but take no part in nesting. Thus when the hen is away to feed, the nest
is unguarded. While the smooth bark:of the aspen trunk generally offers a poor grip for
the claws of a hungry squirrel or weasel, aerial attacks, from a hawk, owl, or gray jay,
are more likely.
• The choice of where to build the nest is based not only on the branch itself but also
(IS) on what hangs over it. A crooked deformity in the nest branch, a second, unusually
close branch overhead, or proximity to part of a trunk bowed by a past ice storm are
features that provide shelter and make for an attractive nest site. Scarcely larger tha,n a
halved golf ball, the nest is painstakingly constructed of spiderwebs and plant down,
decorated and camouflaged outside with paper-like bits of aspen bark: held together
(20) with more strands of spider silk. By early June it will hold two pea-sized eggs, which
each weigh one-seventh of the mother's weight, and in sixteen to nineteen days, two
chicks.

22. What aspect of broad-tailed 24. The word "counts" in line 6 is

hummingbird behavior does the closest in meaning to
passage mainly discuss? (A) weighs
(A) Migration routes (B) estimates
(B) Mating habits (C) matters
(C) CarinJ for the young (D) numbers
(0) Selection of nest sites
25. The word "clear" in line 8 is
23. According to the passage, in what closest in meaning to
circumstances do hummingbirds (A) bright
build a second nest? (B) exact
(A) If the winter is unusually (e) unobstructed
warm (0) transparent
(B) If the chicks in the first nest
hatch early
(C) If there is an unusually large
supply of food
(0) If the eggs are destroyed early
in the season

34 Practice Test A
26. The word "they" in line 9 refers to 29. Which of the following would be a
good location for a broad-tailed
(A) male hummingbirds
hummingbird to build its nest?
(B) territories
(C) meadows (A) A branch near the top of a tree
(0) females (B) The longest branch of a tree
(C) A thick branch
27. According to the passage, which (0) A protected branch
of the following is true of the male
broad-tailed hummingbird? 30. The word "Scarcely" in line 17 is
closest in meaning to
(A) It finds food for the female
and the chicks. (A) obviously
(B) It protects the nest while the (B) barely
female searches for food. (C) consistently
(C) It is not involved in caring for (0) needlessly
the chicks.
(0) It shares neSting duties 31. Which of the following was NOT
equally with the female. mentioned in the passage as a
nest-building material of the
28. It can be inferred from the passage broad-tailed hummingbird?
that the broad-tailed (A) Paper
hummingbirds' eggs and chicks (B) Plant down
are most vulnerable to attacks by (C) Spiderwebs
(A) insects (0) Tree bark
(B) humans
(C) birds
(0) squirrels

The questions for this passage

continue on the next page.

PPlctlcl TI.t A 3&

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The following questions are based on
•" '" ;"n ';;;"thepassage on page 34:"'''' ' " :;:.:",
"",1- ;:-~''1""f,,.;:-.t::J.'" '::"'F-".~J- .;..\ .?'."r-"'-'f' : ..•.
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32.''rheauthor,coinpares.the,sizeo.f 34. Where in the passagedoes'the
"the brolid~tailed Jlummingbii-d~s author mendon the number of
nestto.. .~':'.'~ ~ ':':./ ,\~l .eggs generally found in the nests
(A) a pe~"'" ,1'''')'' ':?fDro~d:J#~ed hu~mingbii-ds'?l
.; (B) a golf baiL,,; 7" '-C"" cr /.:. (A) Line,5,rC';'T,' ;," .
(C) a spiderweb If" , (B),Lines)O-ll".. .\ \
(D) an egg _, (C) Lines'15-1 T ",
,.. ,; (D) Lines 20~22 ,:.'..~~~"
33. According to the passag~~rhoy,,' ..• ".. ,~. . <, ". • ,;;

long does it take'for'b~~d.:"tailed ~:~::1-,~;}c ~ '1

, hummingbird eggs<i6'Iilitch'?"" ~.~; c,'; ,~. -:J. ,~~' ,., J,

.,
;-.(A)Les~tJ1an a,\yeek, .' ,"V ,Ii "'J.", . "
(B) ;:Tw~Jo.three,weeks, r., ,~.:, ;••~k)' >; ~
(ChOne,month '!i 6:"t'""Ll~,::r:
(0) -More"than slx\weeks'lJ£"l(; O.'j?" .~";; •.i""'~"; :~, ""',

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38; PracllceJelt ~ 1 ..•
 Questions 35-40

The ice sheet that blanketed much of North America during the last glaciation was
in the areas of maximum accumulation more than a mile thick. Everywhere the glacier
lay, its work is evident today. Valleys were scooped out and rounded by the moving ice;
Line peaks were scraped clean. Huge quantities of rock were tom from the northern lands
(5) and carried south. Long, high east-west ridges of this eroded debris were deposited by
the ice at its melting southern margin. Furthermore, the weight of the huge mass of ice
depressed the crust of the Earth in some parts of Canada by over a thousand feet. The
crust is still rebounding from that depression.
In North America. perhaps the most conspicuous features of the postglacial landscape
(10) are the Great Lakes on the border between the United States and Canada No other large
freshwater body lies at such favorable latitudes. The history of the making of these
lakes is long and complex.
As the continental ice sheet pushed down from its primary centers of accumulation in
Canada. it moved forward in lobes of ice that followed the existing lowlands. Before the
(IS) coming ofthe ice, the basins of the present Great Lakes were simply the lowest-lying
regions of a gently undulating plain. The moving tongues of ice scoured and deepened
these lowlands as the glacier made its way toward its eventual terminus near the
present Ohio and Missouri rivers. ,
About 16,000 years ago the ice sheet stood for a long time with its edge just to the
(20) south of the present great Lakes. Erosional debris carried by the moving ice was dumped
at the melting southern edge Of the glacier and built up long ridges called terminal
moraines. When the ice began to melt back from this position about 14,000 years ago,
meltwater collected behind the dams formed by the moraines. The crust behind the
moraines was still depressed from the weight of the ice it had borne, and this too helped
(25) create the Great Lakes. The first of these lakes draihed southward across Illinois and
Indiana, along the channels of the present Illinois and Wabash rivers.

35. With what topic is the passage 36. The glaciers discussed in this
primarily concerned? passage traveled
(A) The fonnation of the Great (A) north to south
Lakes (B) south to north
(B) How geographical structures (C) east to west
develop (D) west to east
(C) Damage done by the last ice
age
(D) How the last ice age
developed

80 PrIlCllcCITool 11
 37, The word "its" in line 6 refers to 39. In line II, the word "lies" could
best be replaced by which of the
(A) margin following?
(B) ice .
(C) rock' (A) reclines ..
(D) valley (B) is located
(C) originates
38. According to the passage, the (I) expands
weight of the ice had its greatest
direct effect upon the continent's , 40; According to the passage, ;at the
• time of glacial movement the
(A) crust . , basins of the .present Great Lakes
.. (B) plain were
(C) rivers
(D) peaks (A) low-lying
(B) small
.. \
(C) hiliy '•
(D) flat

~..•,,' .~.
, "

. "

. '

.
..
"

Ie. • ~

Prlctlce Telt A' 89

 Questions 41-50

In the two decades between 1929 and 1949, sculpture in the United States sustained
what was probably the greatest expansion in sheer technique to occur in many centuries.
There was, first of all, the incorporation of welding into sculptural practice, with the
Line result that it was possible to fonn a new kind of metal object. For sculptors working
(5) with metal, earlier restricted to the dense solidity of the bronze cast, it was possible to
add a type of work assembled from paper-thin metal sheets or sinuously curved rods.
Sculpture could take the. fonn of a linear, two-dimensional frame and stilI remain
physically self-supponing. Along with the innovation of welding came a correlative
depanure: freestanding sculpture that was shockingly flat.
(10) Yet another technical expansion of the options for sculpture appeared in the guise of
motion. The individual pans of a sculpture were no longer understood as necessarily
fixed in relation to one another, but could be made to change position within a work
constructed as a moving object. Motorizing the sculpture was only one of many
possibilities taken up in the 1930's. Other strategies for getting the work to move
(15) involveri structuring it in such.a way that external forces, like air movements or the
touch of a viewer, could initiate motion. Movement brought with it a new attitude .
toward the issue of sculptural unity: a work might be made of widely diverse and
even discordant elements; their fonnal unity would be achieved through the arc of a
panicular motion completing itself through time. .
(20) Like the use of welding and movement, the third of these major technical expansions
to develop in the 1930's and 1940's addressed the issues of sculptural materials and .
sculptural unity. But its medium for doing so was the found object, an item not intendecl
for use in a piece of anwork, such as a newspaper or metal pipe. To create a sculpture by
asseml:!ling parts that had been fabricated originally for a quite different context did not
(25) necessarily involve a new technology. But it did mean a change in sculptural practice,
for it raised the possibility that making sculpture might involve more a conceptual shift
than a physical transformation of the material from which it is composed.

41. The word "innovation" in line 8 is 42. It could be inferred that between
closest in meaning to 1929 and 1949 sculptors changed
(A) limitation in what way?
(B) imponant concept (A) They depended less on patrons
(C) use to finance their work.
(D) .new idea (B) They were less imaginative in
their designs.
(C) They exhibited sculpture more
often outside than in
galleries.
(D) They used a wider variety of
materials and techniques.

40 PrlctlceTeltA
43. It can be inferred that which of the 47. The word "diverse" in line 17 is
following happened when sculptors closest in meaning to
began to use welding as a (A) dissimilar
technique? (B) unappealing
(A) Some sculpture became lighter (C) unreliable
and thinner. (D) distinctive
(B) Sculpture became more
expensive to create. 48. What is the main idea of the third
(C) Sculptors took more time to paragraph?
complete their work. (A) Found objects make
(D) Sculpture became more unattraCtive sculptures.
ornate. (B) Sculptors looked for found
objects in ga,rbage cans.
44. The word "initiate" in line 16 is (C) The use of found objects
closest in meaning to changed the way sculpture
(A) cause is create<\.
(D) Sculptors who used found
(B) alter
objl:Cts enjoyed great
(C) hinder
(D) prolong success.

45. The word "it" in line 16 refers to 49. The word "fabricated" in line 24 is
closest in meaning to
(A) viewer
(B) movement (A) enlarged
(C) attitude (B) made
(D) issue (C) ordered
(D) revealed
46. According to the passage, how did
the use of motion affect sculpture? SO. Which of the following ~as NOT
a new technique developed during
(A) It caused the old materials to
this period?
be discarded.
(B) It required sculptors to (A) Creating sculptures that move
collaborate with engineers. (B) Welding m~tal pieces together
(C) It changed the concept of (C) Including found objects in
sculptural unity. sculpture
(D) It forced sculptors to weld all (D) Making a bronze cast.
parts permanently.

Practice Telt A 41