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Practice Reading C

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Question 1- 9

	Around the year 1500, hunting people occupied the entire northern third of North
	America. They lived well from the animals with whom they shared these lands. Hunters
	of sea mammals had colonized the Arctic coasts of Canada and Greenland between
	four and five thousand years before. Land-hunting people had lived throughout much of
	the northern interior for at least 12,000 years.
	Northern North America is part of a larger circumpolar ecological domain that
	continues across the narrow Bering Strait into Siberia and northern Europe. The overall
	circumpolar environment in the 1500’s was not very different from the environment of
	the present. This vast landmass had a continental climate and was dominated by cold
	arctic air throughout a long winter and spring season. Summer temperatures ranged
	from near freezing to the mid-20's Celsius, while winter temperatures were often as low
	as 40 degrees below zero Celsius.
	Geographers divide the overall circumpolar domain into two zones, the Arctic and
	below it, the Subarctic. They refer to the landforms of these areas as tundra and taiga,
	respectively.
	Temperatures in the northern lands were below freezing for eight or nine months of
	the year. Subsurface soil in the Arctic's tundra remained permanently frozen. Even
	when summer temperatures were above freezing and the top inches of earth became
	saturated with water, the soil below remained frozen into a permafrost, as hard as rock.
	When water flowed upon the surface of permanently frozen tundra, it made overland
	travel extremely difficult. Summer travel in the boggy lands, or muskeg country, of the
	Subarctic's taiga was also slow and arduous. Tracking animals was more difficult than
	it was during the winter when the swampy ground was frozen solid and covered with
	snow. In both tundra and taiga, hordes of mosquitoes and biting flies bred in the
	standing pools of water. Clothing lost its thermal efficiency when it became damp.
	Northern people looked forward to the turn of the season to bring the easier traveling
	conditions associated with cold weather. In the Arctic, they could haul food and
	supplies by dogsled while in the Subarctic, people could travel quickly and efficiently by
	snowshoes and toboggan.

1. The word "domain" in line 6 is closest in meaning to

(A) temperature
(B) period
(C) region
(D) process

Correct Answer: C

2. Which of the following terms is used to describe the landforms of the Arctic region?

(A) Subarctic
(B) Taiga
(C) Tundra
(D) Muskeg

Correct Answer: C

3. For how many months of the year were temperatures below freezing in the circumpolar region?

(A) 4-5 months
(B) 6 months
(C) 8-9 months
(D) 12 months

Correct Answer: C

4. The word "saturated" in line 19 is closest in meaning to

(A) enriched
(B) dissolved
(C) removed
(D) soaked

Correct Answer: D

5. The word "arduous" in line 22 is closest in meaning to

(A) humid
(B) difficult
(C) indirect
(D) unnecessary

Correct Answer: B

6. The word "standing" in line 25 is closest in meaning to

(A) not flowing
(B) very deep
(C) numerous
(D) contaminated

Correct Answer: A

7. All of the following are mentioned as having made travel in the summer difficult EXCEPT

(A) insects
(B) wet clothing
(C) swampy lands
(D) lack of supplies

Correct Answer: D

8. The subsurface soil in the Arctic's tundra is most comparable to which of the following?

(A) Cement
(B) A bog
(C) A pond
(D) Sand

Correct Answer: A

9. Where in the passage does the author mention a means by which people traveled in the northern lands?

(A) Lines 2-4
(B) Lines 6-7
(C) Lines 20-21
(D) Lines 27-29

Correct Answer: D

Questions 10-19

	Social parasitism involves one species relying on another to raise its young. Among
	vertebrates, the best known social parasites are such birds as cuckoos and cowbirds; the
	female lays an egg in a nest belonging to another species and leaves it for the host to
	rear.
	The dulotic species of ants, however, are the supreme social parasites. Consider, for
	example, the unusual behavior of ants belonging to the genus Polyergus. All species of this
	ant have lost the ability to care for themselves. The workers do not forage for food.
	feed their brood or queen, or even dean their own nest. To compensate for these
	deficits, Polyergus has become specialized at obtaining workers from the related genus
	Formica to do these chores.
	In a raid, several thousand Polyergus workers will travel up to 500 feet in search of a
	Formica nest, penetrate it, drive off the queen and tier workers, capture the pupal
	brood, and transport it back to their nest. The captured brood is then reared by the
	resident Formica workers until the developing pupae emerge to add to the Formica
	population, which maintains the mixed-species nest The Formica workers forage for food
	and give it to colony members of both species. They also remove wastes and excavate
	new chambers as the population increases.
	The true extent of the Polyergus ants' dependence on the Formica becomes apparent
	when the worker population grows too large for the existing nest. Formica scouts locate
	a new nesting site, return to the mixed-species colony, and recruit additional Formica
	nest mates. During a period that may last seven days, the Formica workers carry to the
	new nest all the Polyergus eggs, larvae, and pupae, every Polyergus adult, and even the
	Polyergus queen.
	Of the approximately 8,000 species of ants in the world, all 5 species of Polyergus
	and some 200 species in other genera have evolved some degree of parasitic
	relationship with other ants.

10. Which of the following statements best represents the main idea of the passage?

(A) Ants belonging to the genus Formica are incapable of performing certain tasks.
(B) The genus Polyergus is quite similar to the genus Formica.
(C) Ants belonging to the genus Polyergus have an unusual relationship with ants belonging to the genus Formica.
(D) Polyergus ants frequently leave their nests to build new colonies.

Correct Answer: C

11. The word "raise" in line 1 is closest in meaning to

(A) rear
(B) lift
(C) collect
(D) increase

Correct Answer: A

12. The author mentions cuckoos and cowbirds in line 2 because they

(A) share their nests with each other
(B) are closely related species
(C) raise the young of other birds
(D) are social parasites

Correct Answer: D

13. The word "it" in line 3 refers to

(A) species
(B) nest
(C) egg
(D) female

Correct Answer:C

14. What does the author mean by stating that “The dulotic species of lifts... are die supreme social parasites" (line 5) ?

(A) The Polyergus are more highly developed than die Formica.
(B) The Formica have developed specialized roles.
(C) The Polyergus are heavily dependent on the Formica.
(D) The Formica do not reproduce rapidly enough to care for themselves

Correct Answer: C

15. Which of the following is a task that an ant of the genus Polyergus might do?

(A) Look for food.
(B) Raid another nest
(C) Care for the young.
(D) Clean its own nest.

Correct Answer: B

16. The word "excavate" in line 17 is closest in meaning to

(A) find
(B) clean
(C) repair
(D) dig

Correct Answer: D

17. The word "recruit" in line 20 is closest in meaning

(A) create
(B) enlist
(C) endure
(D) capture

Correct Answer: B

18. What happens when a mixed colony of Polyergus and Formica ants becomes too large?

(A) The Polyergus workers enlarge the existing nest.
(B) The captured Formica workers return to their original nest.
(C) The Polyergus and the Formica build separate nests.
(D) The Polyergus and the Formica move to a new nest.

Correct Answer: D

19. According to the information in the passage, all of the following terms refer to ants belonging to the genus Formica EXCEPT the

(A) dulotic species of ants (line 5)
(B) captured brood (line 13)
(C) developing pupae (line 14)
(D) worker population (line 19)

Correct Answer: A

Questions 20-29

	The Winterthur Museum is a collection and a house. There are many museums
	devoted to the decorative arts and many house museums, but rarely in the United States
	is a great collection displayed in a great country house. Passing through successive
	generations of a single family, Winterthur has been a private estate for more than a
	century. Even after the extensive renovations made to it between 1929 and 1931, the
	house remained a family residence. This fact is of importance to the atmosphere and
	effect of the museum. The impression of a lived-in house is apparent to the visitor; the
	rooms look as if they were vacated only a short while ago whether by the original
	owners of the furniture or the most recent residents of the house can be a matter of
	personal interpretation. Winterthur remains, then, a house in which a collection of
	furniture and architectural elements has been assembled. Like an English country
	house, it is an organic structure; the house, as well as the collection and manner of
	displaying it to the visitor, has changed over the years. The changes have coincided
	with developing concepts of the American arts, increased knowledge on the part of
	collectors and students, and a progression toward the achievement of a historical effect
	in period-room displays. The rooms at Winterthur have followed this current, yet still
	retained the character of a private house.
	The concept of a period room as a display technique has developed gradually over
	the years in an effort to present works of art in a context that would show them to
	greater effect and would give them more meaning for the viewer. Comparable to the
	habitat group in a natural history museum, the period room represents the decorative
	arts in a lively and interesting manner and provides an opportunity to assemble objects
	related by style, date, or place of manufacture.

20. What does the passage mainly discuss?

(A) The reason that Winterthur was redesigned
(B) Elements that make Winterthur an unusual museum
(C) How Winterthur compares to English country houses
(D) Historical furniture contained in Winterthur

Correct Answer: B

21. The phrase "devoted to" in line 2 is closest in meaning to

(A) surrounded by
(B) specializing in
(C) successful with
(D) sentimental about

Correct Answer: B

22. What happened at Winterthur between 1929 and 1931?

(A) The owners moved out.
(B) The house was repaired.
(C) The old furniture was replaced.
(D) The estate became a museum.

Correct Answer: B

23. What does the author mean by stating "The impression of a lived-in house is apparent to the visitor" (line 7)?

(A) Winterthur is very old.
(B) Few people visit Winterthur.
(C) Winterthur does not look like a typical museum.
(D) The furniture at Winterthur looks comfortable.

Correct Answer: C

24. The word "assembled" in line 11 Is closest in meaning to

(A) summoned
(B) appreciated
(C) brought together
(D) fundamentally changed

Correct Answer: C

25. The word "it" in line 12 refers to

(A) Winterthur
(B) collection
(C) English country house
(D) visitor

Correct Answer: A

26. The word "developing" in line 14 is closest in meaning to

(A) traditional
(B) exhibiting
(C) informative
(D) evolving

Correct Answer: D

27. According lo the passage, objects in a period room are related by all of (he following EXCEPT

(A) date
(B) style
(C) place of manufacture
(D) past ownership

Correct Answer: D

28. What is die relationship between the two paragraphs in the passage?

(A) The second paragraph explains a term that was mentioned in the first paragraph.
(B) Each paragraph describes a different approach to the display of objects in a museum.
(C) The second paragraph explains a philosophy of art appreciation that contrasts with the philosophy explained in me first paragraph.
(D) Each paragraph describes a different historical period.

Correct Answer: A

29. Where in the passage does the author explain why displays at Winterthur have changed?

(A) lines 1-3
(B) lines 5-6
(C) lines 7-10
(D) lines 13-16

Correct Answer: D

Questions 30-39

	The modem comic strip started out as ammunition in a newspaper war between
	giants of the American press in the late nineteenth century. The first full-color comic
	strip appeared in January 1894 in the New York World, owned by Joseph Pulitzer. The
	first regular weekly full-color comic supplement, similar to today's Sunday funnies,
	appeared two years later, in William Randolph Hearst's rival New York paper, the
	Morning Journal.
	Both were immensely popular, and publishers realized that supplementing the news
	with comic relief boosted the sale of papers. The Morning Journal started another
	feature in 1896, the "Yellow Kid," the first continuous comic character in the United
	States, whose creator, Richard Outcault, had been lured away from the World by the
	ambitious Hearst. The "Yellow Kid" was in many ways a pioneer. Its comic dialogue
	was the strictly urban farce that came to characterize later strips, and it introduced the
	speech balloon inside the strip, usually placed above the characters' heads.
	The first strip to incorporate all the elements of later comics was Rudolph Dirks's
	"Katzenjammer Kids," based on Wilhelm Busch's Max and Moritz, a European satire
	of the nineteenth century. The "Kids" strip, first published in 1897, served as the
	prototype for future American strips. It contained not only speech balloons, but a
	continuous cast of characters, and was divided into small regular panels that did away
	with the larger panoramic scenes of most earlier comics.
	Newspaper syndication played a major role in spreading the popularity of comic
	strips throughout the country. Though weekly colored comics came first, daily blackand-
	white strips were not far behind. They first appeared in the Chicago American in
	1904. It was followed by many imitators, and by 1915 black-and-white comic strips
	had become a staple of daily newspapers around the country.

30. What does the passage mainly discuss?

(A) A comparison of two popular comic strips
(B) The differences between early and modern comic strips
(C) The effects of newspapers on comic strip stories
(D) Features of early comic strips in the United States

Correct Answer: D

31. Why does the author mention Joseph Pulitzer and William Randolph Hearst?

(A) They established New York's first newspaper.
(B) They published comic strips about the newspaper war.
(C) Their comic strips are still published today.
(D) They owned major competitive newspapers.

Correct Answer: D

32. The passage suggests that comic strips were popular for which of the following reasons?

(A) They provided a break from serious news stories.
(B) Readers enjoyed the unusual drawings.
(C) Readers could identify with the characters.
(D) They were about real-life situations.

Correct Answer: A

33. To say that Richard Outcault had been "lured away from” the World by Hearst (line 10) means which of the following?

(A) Hearst convinced Outcault to leave the World.
(B) Hearst fired Outcault from the World.
(C) Hearst warned Outcault to leave the World.
(D) Hearst wanted Outcault to work for the World.

Correct Answer: A

34. The word “it” in line 12 refer to

(A) The “Yellow Kid”
(B) dialogue
(C) farce
(D) balloon

Correct Answer: A

35. According to the passage, the “Yellow Kid” was the first comic strip to do all of the following EXCEPT

(A) feature the same character in each episode
(B) include dialogue inside a balloon
(C) appear in a Chicago newspaper
(D) characterize city life in a humorous way

Correct Answer: C

36. The word "incorporate" in line 14 is closest in meaning to

(A) affect
(B) create
(C) combine
(D) mention

Correct Answer: C

37. The word "prototype" in line 17 is closest in meaning to

(A) story
(B) humor
(C) drawing
(D) model

Correct Answer: D

38. The word "staple" in line 24 is closest in meaning to

(A) regular feature
(B) popular edition
(C) new version
(D) huge success

Correct Answer: A

39. In what order does the author discuss various comic strips in the passage?

(A) In alphabetical order by title
(B) In the order in which they were created
(C) According to the newspaper in which they appeared
(D) From most popular to least popular

Correct Answer: B

Questions 40-50

	Every drop of water in the ocean, even in the deepest parts, responds to the forces
	that create the tides. No other force that affects the sea is so strong. Compared with the
	tides, the waves created by the wind are surface movements felt no more than a
	hundred fathoms below the surface. The currents also seldom involve more than the
	upper several hundred fathoms despite their impressive sweep.
	The tides are a response of the waters of the ocean to the pull of the Moon and the
	more distant Sun. In theory, there is a gravitational attraction between the water and
	even the outermost star of the universe. In reality, however, the pull of remote stars is
	so slight as to be obliterated by the control of the Moon and, to a lesser extent, the Sun.
	Just as the Moon rises later each day by fifty minutes, on the average, so, in most
	places, the time of high tide is correspondingly later each day. And as the Moon waxes
	and wanes in its monthly cycle, so the height of the tide varies. The tidal movements
	are strongest when the Moon is a sliver in the sky, and when it is full. These are the
	highest flood tides and the lowest ebb tides of the lunar month and are called the spring
	tides. At these times the Sun, Moon, and Earth are nearly in line and the pull of the two
	heavenly bodies is added together to bring the water high on the beaches, to send its
	surf upward against the sea cliffs, and to draw a high tide into the harbors. Twice each
	month, at the quarters of the Moon, when the Sun, Moon and Earth lie at the apexes of
	a triangular configuration and the pull of the Sun and Moon are opposed, the moderate
	tidal movements called neap tides occur. Then the difference between high and low
	water is less than at any other time during the month.

40. What is the main point of the first paragraph?

(A) The waves created by ocean currents are very large.
(B) Despite the strength of the wind, it only moves surface water.
(C) Deep ocean water is seldom affected by forces that move water.
(D) The tides are the most powerful force to affect the movement of ocean water.

Correct Answer: D

41. The word "felt" in line 3 is closest in meaning to

(A) based
(B) dropped
(C) detected
(D) explored

Correct Answer: C

42. The words "In reality" in line 8 are closest in meaning to

(A) surprisingly
(B) actually
(C) characteristically
(D) similarly

Correct Answer: B

43. It can be inferred from the passage that the most important factor in determining how much gravitational effect one object in space has on the tides is

(A) size
(B) distance
(C) temperature
(D) density

Correct Answer: B

44. The word "correspondingly" in line 11 is closest in meaning to

(A) unpredictably
(B) interestingly
(C) similarly
(D) unusually

Correct Answer: C

45. What is the cause of spring tides?

(A) Seasonal changes in the weather
(B) The gravitational pull of the Sun and the Moon when nearly in line with the Earth
(C) The Earth's movement around the Sun
(D) The triangular arrangement of the Earth, Sun, and Moon

Correct Answer: B

46. Which of the following pictures best represents the position of the Sun, Moon, and Earth during spring tides?

Correct Answer: D

47. The word "configuration" in line 19 is closest in meaning to

(A) unit
(B) center
(C) surface
(D) arrangement

Correct Answer: D

48. Neap tides occur when

(A) the Sun counteracts the Moon's gravitational attraction
(B) the Moon is full
(C) the Moon is farthest from the Sun
(D) waves created by the wind combine with the Moon's gravitational attraction

Correct Answer: A

49. According to the passage, all of the following statements about tides are true EXCEPT:

(A) The time of high tide is later each day.
(B) Tides have a greater effect on the sea than waves do.
(C) The strongest tides occur at the quarters of the Moon.
(D) Neap tides are more moderate than spring tides.

Correct Answer: C

50. Where in the passage does the author mention movements of ocean water other than those caused by tides?

(A) Lines 2-5
(B) Lines 10-11
(C) Lines 12-13
(D) Lines 17-20

Correct Answer: A