44 - ] Model SAT Tests - Test Forty Four

44 - ] Model SAT Tests 

Test Forty Four

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

Questions 1and 2 are based on the following passage .

            Did she or did a’ t she ? From the 195os popular song lyrics proclaiming that

                  Captain Smith and Pocahontas

                  Had a very mad affair

to the 1995 Walt Disney animated film , the legend of Pocahontas has been widely popular in American culture . But the romance between John Smith and the Indian chieftain’s daughter appears to have been a total fabrication . True ,young Matoaka , whose pet name was Pocahontas ( “favorite daughter” ) , interceded to save Smith’s life , but she was only 11 at the time , and though she eventually married an Englishman named John , his surname was Rolfe , not Smith .

1 . The author’s primary purpose in this paragraph is to   

(A) debunk a common myth

(B)  refute a challenge to an argument

(C)  encourage us to identify with historical figures

(D)  celebrate a legendary romance

(E)  distinguish between history and drama

2 . The underlined word “ True” primarily serves to acknowledge the

(A) existence of a relationship between Pocahontas and Smith

(B) high esteem in which Pocahontas was held by her father

(C) lack of information about Matoaka’s actual emotions

(D) authoritative nature of the Disney animated version

(E) enduring popularity of legendary heroic figures

Questions 3and 4 are based on the following passage .

            The Mayans and Aztecs considered chocolate the food of the gods , but today’s lovers of sweets would not find the earliest chocolate heavenly . Chocolate is made from the roasted and ground seeds of cacao tree , Until the sixteenth century , ground chocolate was mixed with water and spices , including chili peppers , to make a bitter , frothy beverage that Spanish explorers termed fitter for hogs than men . Not until Cortez brought chocolate back to Spain in 1526 was sugar added the mix , but once it was , European royalty prized hot chocolate drinks . Over the next two centuries , hot chocolate become fashionable ; chocolate houses ( like coffeehouses ) sprang up throughout Europe .

3 . The opening sentence of the passage makes use primarily of which of the following ?

(A) Humorous understatement

(B) Classical allusion

(C) Personification

(D) Allegory

(E) Simile

4 . The initial attitude of the Spaniards toward the Aztec chocolate beverage can best be characterized as  

(A) appreciative (B) indifferent (C) objective (D) derisive (E) nostalgic

Questions 5-  7 are based on the following passage .

            On the playgrounds of Brooklyn , basketball is more religious rite than sport . Its devotees are on the court ten hours a day , six days a week . Seventeen-and eighteen-year-olds have rheumatoid knees from the constant pounding of their feet on the asphalt . They play through the afternoon heat with little more to fuel them than a can of soda , and they play at night in the dim illumination of nearly streetlights . They play even in the dead of the winter , banging away at the netless rims , hoping for salvation in the form of a contract with the NBA .

5 . Sentences 3 ( “ Seventeen …. asphalt” ) suggests mainly that seventeen-year-olds    

(A) are not physically fit enough to play basketball

(B) have an unusual level of stamina

(C) prefer asphalt courts to indoor gymnasiums

(D) seriously injure themselves by playing so hard

(E) show great dedication to their chosen sport

6 . The underlined word “salvation” mentioned in the passage most likely refers to

(A) a realistic expectation of athletic success

(B) the potential for excellence that exists in all players

(C) formal promises made to amateur athletes by the NBA

(D) the ideal of sportsmanship exemplified by professional athletes

(E) a deliverance from poverty through professional sports

7 . The facilities for playing basketball available to the seventeen-and eighteen-year-olds described above can best be characterized as

(A) professional (B) sheltered (C) rudimentary (D) well designed (E) seldom accessible