17 - ] Model SAT Tests - Test Seventeen

17 - ] Model SAT Tests 

Test Seventeen

Read the passages below , and then answer the questions that follow the passage . The correct response may be stated outright or merely suggested in the passage .

Questions 1 - 6 are based on the following passage.

The following passage on the formation of oil is excerpted from a novel about oil exploration written by Alistair MacLean

            Five main weather elements act upon rock . Frost and ice fracture rock . It can be gradually eroded by airborne dust . The action of the seas , whether through the constant movement of tides or the pounding of heavy storm waves , remorselessly wears away the coastlines . Rivers are immensely powerful destructive agencies - one has but to look at the Grand Canyon to appreciate their enormous power . And such rocks as a escape all these influences are worn away over the eons by the effect of rain .              

          Whatever the cause of erosion , the net result is the same . The rock is reduced to its tiniest possible constituents - rock particles or , simply , dust. Rain and melting snow carry this dust down to the tiniest rivulets and the mightiest rivers , which , in turn , transport it to lakes , inland seas and the coastal regions of the oceans . Dust , however fine and powdery , is still heavier than water , and whenever the water becomes sufficiently still , it will gradually sink to the bottom , not only in lakes and seas but also in the sluggish lower reaches of rivers and where flood conditions exist , in the form of silt .

            And so , over unimaginably long reaches of time ; whole mountain ranges are carried down to the seas , and in the process , through the effects of gravity , new rock is born as layer after layer of dust accumulates on the bottom , building up to a depth of ten , a hundred , perhaps even a thousand feet , the lowermost layers being gradually compacted by the immense and steadily increasing pressures from above , until the particles fuse together and reform as a new rock .

            It is in the intermediate and final processes of the new rock formation that oil comes into being . Those lakes and seas of hundreds of millions of years ago were almost choked by water plants and the most primitive forms of aquatic life . On dying , they sank to the bottom of the lakes and seas along with the settling dust particles and were gradually buried deep under the endless layers of more dust and more aquatic and plant life that slowly accumulated above them . The passing of millions of years and the steadily increasing pressures from above gradually changed the decayed vegetation and dead aquatic life into oil .

            Described this simply and quickly the process sounds reasonable enough . But this is where the gray and disputatious area arise . The conditions necessary for the formation of oil are known ; the cause of the metamorphosis is not . It seems probable that some form of chemical catalyst is involved , but this catalyst has not been isolated . The first purely synthetic oil . as distinct from secondary synthetic oils such as those derived from coal , has yet to be produced . We just have to accept that oil is oil , that it is there , bound up in rock strata in fairly well-defined areas throughout the world but always on the sites of ancient sea and lakes , some of which are now continental land , some buried deep under the encroachment of new oceans .

1 . According to the author , which of the following statements is (are) true ?

1 .  The action of the seas is the most important factor in erosion of Earth’s surface .

11 . Scientists have not been able to produce a purely synthetic oil in the laboratory .

111 . Gravity plays an important role in the formation of new rock

(A) I only (B) 11 only (C) 111 only (D) 1 and 111 only (E) 11 and 111 only    

2 . The Grand Canyon is mentioned in the first paragraph to illustrate  

(A) the urgent need for dams

(B) the devastating impact of rivers

(C) the effect of rain

(D) a site where oil may be found

(E) the magnificence of nature

3 . According to the author , our understanding of the process by which oil is created is    

(A) biased (B) systematic (C) erroneous (D) deficient (E)  adequate

4 . We can infer that prospectors should search for oil deposits    

(A) wherever former seas existed

(B) in mountain streambeds

(C) where coal deposits are found

(D) in the Grand Canyon

(E) in new rock formation

5 . The author does all of the following EXCEPT  

(A) describe a process

(B) state a possibility

C) cite an example

(D) propose a solution

(E) mention a limitation

6 . The underlined word “reaches” in paragraph 2 means   

(A) grasps (B) unbroken stretches (C) range of knowledge (D) promontories

(E) juxtaposition

Questions 7 - 15 are based on the following passage .

The following passage is excerpted from a book on the meaning and importance of fairy tales by noted child psychologist Bruno Bettelheim

            Plato - who may have understood better what forms the mind of man than do some of our contemporaries who want their children exposed only to “real” people and everyday events - know what intellectual experiences make for true humanity . He suggested that the future citizens of his ideal republic begin their literary education with the telling of myths , rather than with mere facts or so-called rational teachings . Even Aristotle , master of pure reason , said : “The friend of wisdom is also a friend of myth .”

            Modern thinkers who have studied myths and fairy tales from a philosophical pr psychological viewpoint arrive at the same conclusion , regardless of their original persuasion . Mireca Eliade, for one , describes these stories as “models for human behavior [that ,] by that very fact , give meaning and value to life .” Drawing on anthropological parallels , he and others suggest that myths and fairy tales were derived from , or give a symbolic expression to , initiation rites or other rites of passage - such as metaphoric death of an old , inadequate self in order to be reborn on a higher plane of existence . He feels that this is why these tales meet a strongly felt need and are carriers of such deep meaning .

            Other investigators with a depth-psychological orientation emphasize the similarities between the fantastic events in myths and fairy takes and those in adult dreams and daydrams - the fulfillment of wishes , the winning out over all competitors , the destruction of enemies -and conclude that one attraction of this literature is its expression of that which is normally prevented from coming to awareness .

           There are , of course , very significant differences between fairy tales and dreams . For example , in dreams more often than not the wish fulfillment is disguisd , while in fairy tales much of it is openly expressed . To a considerable degree , dreams are the result of inner pressures that have found no relief , pf problems that beset a person to which he knows no solution and to which the dream finds none . The fairy tale does the opposite : it projects the relief of all pressures and not only offers ways to solve problems but promises that a “happy” solution will be found .

            We cannot control what goes on in our dreams . Although our inner censorship influences what we may dream , such control occurs on an unconscious level . The fairy tale , on the other hand , is very much the result of common conscious and unconscious mind , not of one particular person , but the consensus of many in regard to what they accept as desirable solutions . If all these elements were not present in a fairy tale , it would not be retold by generation after generation . Only if a fairy tale met the conscious and unconscious requirements of many people was it repeatedly retold , and listened to with great interest . No dream of a person could arouse such persistent interest unless it was worked into a myth , as was the story of the pharaoh’s dream as interpreted by Joseph in the Bible .

            There is general agreement that myths and fairy tales speak tyo us in the language of symbols representing unconscious content . Their appeal is simultaneously to our conscious mind , and to our need for ego-ideals as well . This makes it very effective : and in the tales’ content , inner psychological phenomena are given body in symbolic form .

7 . In the opening paragraph , the author quotes Plato and Aristotle primarily in order to         

(A) define the nature of myth

(B) contrast their opposing points of view

(C) support the point that myths are valuable

(D) prove that myths are originated in ancient times

(E)  give an example of depth psychology

8 . The author’s comment about people who wish their children exposed only to actual historic persons and commonplace events [ 2 and 3 ] suggests he primarily views such people as 

(A) considerate of their children’s welfare

(B) misguided in their beliefs

(C) determined to achieve their ends

(D) more rational than the ancients

(E)  optimistic about human nature

9 . By “Plato ……. knew what intellectual experiences make for true humanity” (lines 1 - 3) , the author means that      

(A) Plato comprehended the effects of the intellectual life on real human beings

(B) Plato realized how little a purely intellectual education could do for people’s actual well-being

(C) Plato grasped which sorts of experiences helped promote the development of truly humane individuals

(D) actual human beings are transformed by reading the scholarly works of Plato

(E)  human nature is a product of mental training according to the best philosophical principles .

10 . The underlined word “persuasion” in paragraph 2 means  

(A)  enticement (B) convincing force (C) political party (D) opinion (E) gullibility

11 . Lines 7 - 10 paragraph 2 suggest that Mircea Eliade is most likely      

(A) a writer of children’s literature

(B) a student of physical anthropology

(C) a twentieth century philosopher

(D) an advocate of practical education

(E) a contemporary of Plato

12 . The underlined word “appeal” in the last paragraph most nearly means     

(A) plea (B) wistfulness (C) prayer (D) request (E) attraction

13 . It can be inferred from the passage that the author’s interest in fairy tales centers chiefly on their    

(A) literary qualities

(B) historical background

(C) factual accuracy

(D) psychological relevance

(E) ethical weakness

14 . Which of the following best describes the author’s attitude toward fairy tales ?  

(A) Reluctant fascination

(B) Wary skepticism

(C) Scornful disapprobation

(D) Indulgent tolerance

(E) Open approval

15 . According to the passage , fairy tales differ from dreams in which of the following characteristics ?    

1 . The shared nature of their creation

11 . The convention of as happy ending

111 . Enduring general appeal

(A) 1 only

(B) 11 only

(C) 1 and 11 only

(D) 11 and 111 only

(E) 1 , 11 , and 111