37 - ] Model SAT Tests - Test Thirty Seven

37 - ] Model SAT Tests

  Test Thirty Seven

 Read each passage 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 and 2 are based on the following passage .

            In the 1880’s , when the commercial theater had ceased to be regarded as a fit medium for serious writers . British intellectuals came to champion the plays of an obscure Norwegian dramatist . Hungry for a theater that spoke to their intellects , they wholeheartedly embraced the social realist dramas of Henrik Ibsen , Eleanor Marx , daughter of Karl Marx , went so far as to teach herself Norwegian in order to translate Ibsen’s A Doll’s House , which she presented in an amateur performance in a Bloomsbury drawing room .

1 . The underlined word “embraced” most nearly means

(A) clasped (B) adopted (C) comprised (D) incorporated (E) hugged

2 . The discussion of Eleanor Marx  in lines 4 - 7 ( “Eleanor …. room” ) serves primarily to      

(A) propose a counterexample

(B) correct an inaccurate statement

(C) introduce a questionable hypothesis

(D) support an earlier assertion

(E) acknowledge a factual discrepancy

Questions 3 and 4 are based on the following passage .

            According to reports from psychologists world-wide , measures of personal happiness hardly change as the national income rises . This finding has led many social critics to maintain that income growth has ceased to foster well-being . A moment’s recollection suggests otherwise . I remember years ago when our car clanked and juddered and limped into a garage , warning lights ablaze . “Threw a rod,” said the mechanic . “Junk her,” I remember interminable trips to used-car lots , sleepless nights worrying about debt , calls to friends , about possible leads . Recently , my wife suggested we get a new car . “Great !” I said . “What about a hybrid?”

            Money can’t buy happiness , but having money sure takes the pressure off .

3 . In lines 3 - 8 , the author uses a personal anecdote to         

(A) warn about the dangers of consumer debt

(B) explain what caused the author ‘s engine trouble

C) suggest the range of the author’s tastes in automobiles

(D) express an unorthodox view about psychology

(E) contradict the social critics’ conclusion

4 . The author’s tone in the closing lines of the passage ( 9 and 10 ) can best be characterized as       

(A) breezy (B) objective (C) cautionary (D) ambivalent (E) nostalgic