Reading & Writing

The following text is adapted from Nathaniel Hawthorne’s 1844 short story “Drowne’s Wooden Image.” Drowne, a young man, is carving a wooden figure to decorate the front of a ship.

Day by day, the work assumed greater precision, and settled its irregular and misty outline into distincter grace and beauty. The general design was now obvious to the common eye.

As used in the text, what does the word “assumed” most nearly mean?

A. Acquired

B. Acknowledged

C. Imitated

D. Speculated

Culinary anthropologist Vertamae Smart-Grosvenor may be known for her decades of work in national public television and radio, but her book Vibration Cooking: or, the Travel Notes of a Geechee Girl is likely her most influential project. The 1970 book, whose title refers to Smart-Grosvenor’s roots in the Low Country of South Carolina, was unusual for its time. It combined memoir, recipes, travel writing, and social commentary and challenged notions about conventions of food and cooking. Long admired by many, the book and its author have shaped contemporary approaches to writing about cuisine.

Which choice best describes the main idea of the text?

A. Smart-Grosvenor’s unconventional book Vibration Cooking: or, the Travel Notes of a Geechee Girl is an important contribution to food writing.

B. Smart-Grosvenor held many different positions over her life, including reporter and food writer.

C. Smart-Grosvenor’s groundbreaking book Vibration Cooking: or, the Travel Notes of a Geechee Girl didn’t receive the praise it deserved when it was first published in 1970.

D. Smart-Grosvenor was a talented chef whose work inspired many people to start cooking for themselves.

O Pioneers! is a 1913 novel by Willa Cather. In the novel, Cather depicts Alexandra Bergson as a person who takes comfort in understanding the world around her: ______

Which quotation from O Pioneers! most effectively illustrates the claim?

A. “She looked fixedly up the bleak street as if she were gathering her strength to face something, as if she were trying with all her might to grasp a situation which, no matter how painful, must be met and dealt with somehow.“

B. “She had never known before how much the country meant to her. The chirping of the insects down in the long grass had been like the sweetest music. She had felt as if her heart were hiding down there, somewhere, with the quail and the plover and all the little wild things that crooned or buzzed in the sun. Under the long shaggy ridges, she felt the future stirring.“

C. “Alexandra drove off alone. The rattle of her wagon was lost in the howling of the wind, but her lantern, held firmly between her feet, made a moving point of light along the highway, going deeper and deeper into the dark country.”

D. “Alexandra drew her shawl closer about her and stood leaning against the frame of the mill, looking at the stars which glittered so keenly through the frosty autumn air. She always loved to watch them, to think of their vastness and distance, and of their ordered march. It fortified her to reflect upon the great operations of nature, and when she thought of the law that lay behind them, she felt a sense of personal security.”

Several artworks found among the ruins of the ancient Roman city of Pompeii depict a female figure fishing with a cupid nearby. Some scholars have asserted that the figure is the goddess Venus, since she is known to have been linked with cupids in Roman culture, but University of Leicester archaeologist Carla Brain suggests that cupids may have also been associated with fishing generally. The fact that a cupid is shown near the female figure, therefore, ______

Which choice most logically completes the text?

A. is not conclusive evidence that the figure is Venus.

B. suggests that Venus was often depicted fishing.

C. eliminates the possibility that the figure is Venus.

D. would be difficult to account for if the figure is not Venus.

In documents called judicial opinions, judges explain the reasoning behind their legal rulings, and in those explanations they sometimes cite and discuss historical and contemporary philosophers. Legal scholar and philosopher Anita L. Allen argues that while judges are naturally inclined to mention philosophers whose views align with their own positions, the strongest judicial opinions consider and rebut potential objections; discussing philosophers whose views conflict with judges’ views could therefore ______

Which choice most logically completes the text?

A. allow judges to craft judicial opinions without needing to consult philosophical works.

B. help judges improve the arguments they put forward in their judicial opinions.

C. make judicial opinions more comprehensible to readers without legal or philosophical training.

D. bring judicial opinions in line with views that are broadly held among philosophers.

Many of William Shakespeare’s tragedies address broad themes that still appeal to today’s audiences. For instance, Romeo and Juliet, which is set in the Italy of Shakespeare’s time, tackles the themes of parents versus children and love versus hate, and the play continues to be read and produced widely around the world. But understanding Shakespeare’s so-called history plays can require a knowledge of several centuries of English history. Consequently, ______

Which choice most logically completes the text?

A. many theatergoers and readers today are likely to find Shakespeare’s history plays less engaging than the tragedies.

B. some of Shakespeare’s tragedies are more relevant to today’s audiences than twentieth-century plays.

C. Romeo and Juliet is the most thematically accessible of all Shakespeare’s tragedies.

D. experts in English history tend to prefer Shakespeare’s history plays to his other works.

Based on genetic evidence, archaeologists have generally agreed that reindeer domestication began in the eleventh century CE. However, since uncovering fragments of a 2,000-year-old reindeer training harness in northern Siberia, ______ may have begun much earlier.

Which choice completes the text so that it conforms to the conventions of Standard English?

A. researcher Robert Losey has argued that domestication

B. researcher Robert Losey’s argument is that domestication

C. domestication, researcher Robert Losey has argued,

D. the argument researcher Robert Losey has made is that domestication

Beatrix Potter is perhaps best known for writing and illustrating children’s books such as The Tale of Peter Rabbit (1902), but she also dedicated herself to mycology, the study of ______ more than 350 paintings of the fungal species she observed in nature and submitting her research on spore germination to the Linnean Society of London.

Which choice completes the text so that it conforms to the conventions of Standard English?

A. fungi; producing

B. fungi. Producing

C. fungi producing

D. fungi, producing

African American Percy Julian was a scientist and entrepreneur whose work helped people around the world to see. Named in 1999 as one of the greatest achievements by a US chemist in the past hundred years, ______ led to the first mass-produced treatment for glaucoma.

Which choice completes the text so that it conforms to the conventions of Standard English?

A. Julian synthesized the alkaloid physostigmine in 1935; it

B. in 1935 Julian synthesized the alkaloid physostigmine, which

C. Julian’s 1935 synthesis of the alkaloid physostigmine

D. the alkaloid physostigmine was synthesized by Julian in 1935 and

Interruptions in the supply chain for microchips used in personal electronics have challenged an economist’s assertion that retailers can expect robust growth in sales of those devices in the coming months. The delays are unlikely to ______ her projection entirely but will almost certainly extend its time frame.

Which choice completes the text with the most logical and precise word or phrase?

A. dispute

B. withdraw

C. underscore

D. invalidate

Seminole/Muscogee director Sterlin Harjo ______ television’s tendency to situate Native characters in the distant past: this rejection is evident in his series Reservation Dogs, which revolves around teenagers who dress in contemporary styles and whose dialogue is laced with current slang.

Which choice completes the text with the most logical and precise word or phrase?

A. repudiates

B. proclaims

C. foretells

D. recants

Number and Origin of Clamshell Tools Found at Different Levels Below the Surface in Neanderthal Cave

Studying tools unearthed at a cave site on the western coast of Italy, archaeologist Paola Villa and colleagues have determined that prehistoric Neanderthal groups fashioned them from shells of clams that they harvested from the seafloor while wading or diving or that washed up on the beach. Clamshells become thin and eroded as they wash up on the beach, while those on the seafloor are smooth and sturdy, so the research team suspects that Neanderthals prized the tools made with seafloor shells. However, the team also concluded that those tools were likely more challenging to obtain, noting that ______

Which choice most effectively uses data from the table to support the research team’s conclusion?

A. at each depth below the surface in the cave, the difference in the numbers of tools of each type suggests that shells were easier to collect from the beach than to harvest from the seafloor.

B. the highest number of tools were at a depth of 3–4 meters below the surface, which suggests that the Neanderthal population at the site was highest during the related period of time.

C. at each depth below the surface in the cave, the difference in the numbers of tools of each type suggests that Neanderthals preferred to use clamshells from the beach because of their durability.

D. the higher number of tools at depths of 5–6 meters below the surface in the cave than at depths of 4–5 meters below the surface suggests that the size of clam populations changed over time.

Psychologists Dacher Keltner and Jonathan Haidt have argued that experiencing awe—a sensation of reverence and wonder typically brought on by perceiving something grand or powerful—can enable us to feel more connected to others and thereby inspire us to act more altruistically. Keltner, along with Paul K. Piff, Pia Dietze, and colleagues, claims to have found evidence for this effect in a recent study where participants were asked to either gaze up at exceptionally tall trees in a nearby grove (reported to be a universally awe-inspiring experience) or stare at the exterior of a nearby, nondescript building. After one minute, an experimenter deliberately spilled a box of pens nearby.

Which finding from the researchers’ study, if true, would most strongly support their claim?

A. Participants who had been looking at the trees helped the experimenter pick up significantly more pens than did participants who had been looking at the building.

B. Participants who helped the experimenter pick up the pens used a greater number of positive words to describe the trees and the building in a postexperiment survey than did participants who did not help the experimenter.

C. Participants who did not help the experimenter pick up the pens were significantly more likely to report having experienced a feeling of awe, regardless of whether they looked at the building or the trees.

D. Participants who had been looking at the building were significantly more likely to notice that the experimenter had dropped the pens than were participants who had been looking at the trees.

Political scientists who favor the traditional view of voter behavior claim that voting in an election does not change a voter’s attitude toward the candidates in that election. Focusing on each US presidential election from 1976 to 1996, Ebonya Washington and Sendhil Mullainathan tested this claim by distinguishing between subjects who had just become old enough to vote (around half of whom actually voted) and otherwise similar subjects who were slightly too young to vote (and thus none of whom voted). Washington and Mullainathan compared the attitudes of the groups of subjects toward the winning candidate two years after each election.

Which finding from Washington and Mullainathan’s study, if true, would most directly weaken the claim made by people who favor the traditional view of voter behavior?

A. Subjects’ attitudes toward the winning candidate two years after a given election were strongly predicted by subjects’ general political orientation, regardless of whether subjects were old enough to vote at the time of the election.

B. Subjects who were not old enough to vote in a given election held significantly more positive attitudes towards the winning candidate two years later than they held at the time of the election.

C. Subjects who voted in a given election held significantly more polarized attitudes toward the winning candidate two years later than did subjects who were not old enough to vote in that election.

D. Two years after a given election, subjects who voted and subjects who were not old enough to vote were significantly more likely to express negative attitudes than positive attitudes toward the winning candidate in that election.

Some economists have attributed the increasing adoption of automation technology by firms in the United States in part to the productivity gains firms can achieve by automating tasks previously requiring paid labor. Daron Acemoglu et al. recently complicated this account by showing not only that automation’s productivity gains are often unremarkable, but that there is a disparity in the US tax code between automation technology and the labor it is nominally equivalent to: the tax code classifies automation-related technology as a depreciating asset, meaning that capital expenditures on that technology can reduce a firm’s tax burden relative to its tax burden if equivalent expenditures were labor costs. Together, these findings suggest that ______

Which choice most logically completes the text?

A. the explanation that some economists have offered for US firms’ increasing adoption of automation technology may be based on an overestimation of the tax benefits and productivity gains associated with that technology.

B. US firms’ increasing adoption of automation technology may be driven more by the fact that the government indirectly incentivizes firms to adopt that technology than by the ongoing benefits that the technology has for firms’ outputs.

C. changes to the US tax code that result in capital expenditures on automation technology being treated the same as expenditures on labor costs would likely have little effect on firms’ productivity but may encourage further adoption of that technology.

D. US firms have actually tended to experience a decrease in productivity as a result of adopting automation technology, but that decrease is overlooked due to the tax advantages associated with the technology.

A firefly uses specialized muscles to draw oxygen into its lower abdomen through narrow tubes, triggering a chemical reaction whereby the oxygen combines with chemicals in the firefly’s abdomen to produce a glow. ______ when the firefly stops drawing in oxygen, the reaction—and the glow—cease.

Which choice completes the text with the most logical transition?

A. For instance,

B. By contrast,

C. Specifically,

D. In conclusion,

While researching a topic, a student has taken the following notes:

• In 1999, astronomer Todd Henry studied the differences in surface temperature between the Sun and nearby stars.

• His team mapped all stars within 10 parsecs (approximately 200 trillion miles) of the Sun.

• The surface temperature of the Sun is around 9,800°F, which classifies it as a G star.

• 327 of the 357 stars in the study were classified as K or M stars, with surface temperatures under 8,900°F (cooler than the Sun).

• 11 of the 357 stars in the study were classified as A or F stars, with surface temperatures greater than 10,300°F (hotter than the Sun).

The student wants to emphasize how hot the Sun is relative to nearby stars. Which choice most effectively uses relevant information from the notes to accomplish this goal?

A. At around 9,800°F, which classifies it as a G star, the Sun is hotter than most but not all of the stars within 10 parsecs of it.

B. Astronomer Todd Henry determined that the Sun, at around 9,800°F, is a G star, and several other stars within a 10-parsec range are A or F stars.

C. Of the 357 stars within ten parsecs of the Sun, 327 are classified as K or M stars, with surface temperatures under 8,900°F.

D. While most of the stars within 10 parsecs of the Sun are classified as K, M, A, or F stars, the Sun is classified as a G star due to its surface temperature of 9,800°F.

While researching a topic, a student has taken the following notes:

• One of history’s greatest libraries was the House of Wisdom in Baghdad, Iraq.

• It was founded in the eighth century with the goal of preserving all the world’s knowledge.

• Scholars at the House of Wisdom collected ancient and contemporary texts from Greece, India, and elsewhere and translated them into Arabic.

• Writings included those of the Greek philosopher Aristotle and the Indian mathematician Aryabhata.

• The House of Wisdom used Chinese papermaking technology to create paper versions to be studied and shared.

The student wants to explain how the House of Wisdom preserved the world’s knowledge. Which choice most effectively uses relevant information from the notes to accomplish this goal?

A. The House of Wisdom was known for bringing together knowledge from around the world, including from Greece, India, and China.

B. Founded in Iraq in the eighth century, the House of Wisdom employed many scholars as translators.

C. Writings from the Greek philosopher Aristotle and the Indian mathematician Aryabhata were preserved at the House of Wisdom.

D. The House of Wisdom collected writings from different countries and created paper versions in Arabic to be studied and shared.