3 - ] SAT - The Critical Reading Question
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The Critical Reading Question
Exercise C
This
exercise provides you with a mixture of reading passages similar in variety to
what you will encounter on the SAT . Answer all questions on thje basis of what
is [ stated ] or [ implied ] in the passages .
The
following passage is taken from the introduction to the catalog of a major
exhibition of Flemish tapestries .
Tapestries are made on looms .
Their distinctive weave is basically simple : the colored weft threads
interface regularly with the monochrome warps , as in darning or plain cloth ,
but as they do so , they form a design by reversing their direction when a
change of color is needed . The wefts are beaten down to cover the warps
completely . The result is a design or picture that is the fabric itself , not
one laid upon a ground like an embroidery , a print ,or brocading . The
back and front of a tapestry show the same design . The weaver always follows a
preexisting model , generally a drawing or painting , known as the cartoon ,w
hich in most cases he reproduces as exactly as he can . Long training is needed
to become a professional tapestry weaver . It can take as much as a year to
produce a yard of very finely woven tapestry .
Tapestry-woven fabrics have been
made from China to Peru and from very early times to the present day , but
large wall hangings in this technique , mainly of wool , are typically Northern
European . Few examples predating the late fourteenth century have survived ,
but from about 1400 tapestries were an essential part of aristocratic life .
The prince or great nobleman sent his plate and his tapestries ahead of him to
furnish his castles before his arrival as he traveled through his domains ; both
had the same function , to display his wealth and social position . It has
frequently been suggested that tapestries helped to heat stone-walled rooms ,
but this is a modern idea ; comfort was of minor importance in the Middle Ages
. Tapestries were portable grandeur , instant splendor , taking the place ,
north of the Alps , of painted frescoes further south . They were hung without
gaps between them , covering entire walls and often doors as well . Only very
occasionally were they made as individual works of art such as altar frontals .
They were usually commissioned or bought as sets , or “chambers ,” and
constituted the most important furnishings of any grand room , except for the
display of plate , throughout the Middle Ages and the sixteenth century .Later
, woven silks , ornamental wood carving , stucco decoration , and painted
leather gradually replaced tapestry as expensive wall coverings , until at last
wallpaper was introduced in the late eighteenth dentury and eventually swept
away almost everything else .
By the end of the eighteenth century ,
the “tapestry-room” [ a room with every available wall covered with wall
hangings ] was no longer fashionable : paper had replaced wall coverings of
wool and silk . Tapestries , of course . were still made ,but in the nineteenth
century they often seem to have been produced mainly as individual works of art
that astonish by their resemblance to oil paintings , tours de force woven with
a remarkably large number of wefts per inch . In England during the second half
of the century , William Morris attempted to reverse this trend and to bring
tapestry weaving back to its true principles , those he considered to have
governed it in the Middle Ages . He imitated medieval tapestries in both style
and technique , using few warps to the inch , but he did not make sets ; the
original function for which tapestry is so admirably suited -- completely
covering the walls of a room and providing sumptuous surroundings for a life of
pomp and splendor -- could not be revived .Morris’s example has been followed ,
though with less imitation of medieval style , by many weavers of the present
century , whose coarsely woven cloths hang like single pictures and can be
admired as examples of contemporary art .
1. Tapestry weaving may be characterized as which of
the following ?
I
. Time-consuming
II
. Spontaneous in concept
III
. Faithful to an original
(A)
I only (B) III only (C) I and II only (D)
I and III only (E) II and III only
2
. The underlined word “distinctive” means
(A)
characteristic (B) stylish (C) discriminatory (D) eminent (E) articulate
3
. Renaissance nobles carried tapestries with them to demonstrate their
(A)
piety (B) consequence (C) aesthetic judgment (D) need for privacy (E) dislike
for cold
4
. The underlined word “ground” means
(A)
terrain (B) dust (C) thread (D) base (E) pigment
5
. In contrast to nineteenth century tapestries , contemporary tapestries
(A)
are displayed in sets of panels
(B)
echo medieval themes
(C)
faithfully copy oil paintings
(D)
have a less fine weave
(E)
indicate the owner’s social position
6
. The primary purpose of the passage is to
(A)
explain the process of tapestry making
(B)
contrast Eastern and Western schools of tapestry
(C)
analyze the reasons for the decline in popularity of tapestries
(D)
provide a historical perspective on tapestry making
(E)
advocate a return to a more colorful way o lie
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The
following passage ix taken from a book of popular history written in 1991 .
The advantage of
associating the birth of democracy with the Mayflower Compact is that it is
easy to do so . The public loves a simple explanation , and none is simpler
than the belief that on November 11 ,1620 -- the day of the compact was
approved -- a cornerstone of American democracy was laid . Certainly it makes
it easier on schoolchildren . Marking the start of democracy in 1620 relieves
students of the responsibility of knowing what happened in the hundred some
years before , from the arrival of the Santa Maria to the landing of the
Mayflower .
The compact , to be sure ,
demonstrated the Englishman’s striking capacity for self-government . And in
affirming the principle of majority rule , the Pilgrims showed how far they had
come from the days when the king’s whim was law and nobody dared say otherwise
.
But the emphasis on the compact is
misplaced . Scholarly research in the last half century indicates that the
compact had nothing to do with the development of self-government in America .
In truth , the Mayflower Compact was no more a cornerstone of American
democracy than the Pilgrim hut was the foundation of American architecture . As
Samuel Eliot Morison so emphatically put it . American democracy “was not born
in the cabin of the Mayflower .”
The Pilgrims indeed are miscast as
the heroes of American democracy . They spurned democracy and would have been
shocked to see themselves held up as its defenders . George Willison ,
regarded as one of the most careful students of the Pilgrims , stated that “the
merest glance at the history of Plymouth” shows that they were not democrats .
The mythmakers would have us
believe that even if the Pilgrims themselves weren’t democratic , the Mayflower
Compact itself was . But in fact the compact was expressly designed to curb
freedom , not promote it . The Pilgrim governor and historian , William
Bradford , from whom we have gotten nearly all of the information there is
about the Pilgrims , frankly conceded as much . Bradford wrote that the purpose
of the compact was to control renegades aboard the Mayflower who were
threatening to go their own way when the ship reached land . Because the
Pilgrims had decided to settle in an area outside the jurisdiction of their
royal patent , some aboard the Mayflower had hinted that upon landing
they would “use their owne libertie , for none had power to command them .”
Under the terms of the compact , they couldn’t ; the compact required all who
lived in the colony to “promise all due submission and obedience” to it .
Furthermore , despite the
compact’s mention of majority rule , the Pilgrim fathers had no intention of
turning over the colony’s government to the people . Plymouth was to e ruled by
the elite . And the elite wasn’t bashful in the least about advancing its
claims to superiority . When the Mayflower Compact was signed , the elite
signed first . The second rank consisted of the “goodmen .”At the bottom of the
list came four servants’ names . No women or children signed .
Whether the compact was or was not
actually hostile to the democratic spirit , it was deemed sufficiently hostile
that during the Revolution the Tories put it to use as “propaganda for the
crown .”The monarchists made much of the fact that the Pilgrims had chosen to
establish an English-style government that placed power in the hands of a
governor , not a cleric , and a governor who owed his allegiance no to the
people or to a church but to “our dread Sovereign Lord King James .” No one
thought it significant that the Tories had adopted the principle of majority
rule . Tory historian George Chalmers , in a work published in 1780 , claimed
the central meaning of the compact was the Pilgrims’ recognition of the necessity
of royal authority . This may have been not only a convenient argument but a
true one . It is at least as plausible as the belief that the compact stood for
democracy .
7
. The author’s attitude toward the general public ( lines 3 - 7 ) can best be
described as
(A)
egalitarian (B) grateful (C) sympathetic (D) envious (E) superior
8.
The underlined phrase “held up” means
(A)
delayed (B) cited (C) accommodated (D) carried (E) waylaid
9
. According to the passage paragraph five ( Because …. to it . ) , the
compact’s primary purpose was to
(A)
establish legal authority within the colony
(B)
outlaw non-Pilgrims among the settlers
(C)
preach against heretical thinking
(D)
protect each individual’s civil rights
(E)
countermand the original royal patent
10
. The author of the passage can best be described as
(A)
an iconoclast (B) an atheist (C) a
mythmaker (D) an elitist (E) an authoritarian
11
. In the underlined lines in paragraph six , the details about the signers of
the Mayflower Compact are used to emphasize
(A)
the Pilgrims’ respect for the social hierarchy
(B)
the inclusion of servants among those signing
(C)
their importance to American history
(D)
the variety of social classes aboard
(E)
the lack of any provision for minority rule
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In
this excerpt from her autobiography . One Writer’s Beginnings , the short-story
writer Eudora Welty introduces her parents .
My father loved all instruments
that would instruct and fascinate . His place to keep things was the drawer in
the “library table” where lying on top of his folded maps was a telescope with
brass extensions , to find the moon and the Big Dipper after supper in our
front yard , and to keep appointments with eclipses . In the back of the
drawer you could find a magnifying glass , a kaleidoscope , and a gyroscope
kept in a lack buckram box , which he would set dancing for us on a string
pulled tight . He had also supplied himself with an assortment of puzzles
composed of metal rings and intersecting links and keys chained together ,
impossible for the rest of us , however patiently shown , to take apart , he
had an almost childlike love of the ingenious .
In time , a barometer was added to
our dining room wall , but we didn’t really need it . My father had the country
boy’s accurate knowledge of the weather and its skies . He went out and
stood on our front steps first thing in the morning and took a good look at it
and a sniff . He was a pretty good weather prophet .
“Well , I’m not ,” my
mother would say , with enormous self-satisfaction .
He told us children what to do if
we were lost in a strange country . “Look for where the sky is brightest along
the horizon ,” he said . “That reflects the nearest river . Strike out for s a
river and you will find habitation .” Eventualities were much on his mind . In his
care for us children he cautioned us to take measures against such
things as being struck y lightning . He drew us all away from the windows
during the severe electrical storms that are common where we live . My mother
stood apart , scoffing at caution as a character failing . “Why , I always
loved a storm ! High winds never bothered me in West Virginia ! Just listen
at that ! I wasn’t a bit afraid of a little lightning and spread my arms
wide and run in a good big storm !”
So I developed a strong
meteorological sensibility . In years ahead when I wrote stores , atmosphere
took its influential role from the start . Commotion in the weather and the
inner feelings aroused by such a hovering disturbance emerged connected in
dramatic form . ( I tried a tornado first , in a story called “The Winds .” )
From our earliest Christmas times ,
Santa Claus brought us toys that instruct oys and girls ( separately ) how to build things -- stone locks cut to the castle-building style , Tinker Toys , and
Erector sets .Daddy made for us himself elaborate kites that needed to e take
miles out of the town to a pasture long enough ( and my father was not afraid
of horses and cows watching ) for him to run with and get up on a long cord to
which my mother held the spindle , and then we children were given it to hold ,
tugging like something alive at our hands . They were beautiful , sound ,
shapely box kites , smelling delicately of office glue for their entire short
lives .And of course , as soon as the boys attained anywhere near the right age
, there was an electric train , the enguine with its pea-sized working
headlight , its lines of cars , tracks equipped with switches semaphores , its
station , its bridges , and its tunnel , which blocked off all other traffic in
the upstairs hall . Even from downstairs , and through the cries of excited
children , the elegant rush and click of the train could be heard through the
ceiling , running around and around its figure eight .
All of this , but especially the
train , represents my father’s fondest beliefs -- in progress , in the
future . With these gifts , he was preparing his children .
And so was my mother with her
different gifts .
I learned from the age of two or three
that any room in our house , at any time , was there to read in , or be read to
. My mother read to me . She’d read to me in the big bedroom in the mornings ,
when we were in her rocker together , which ticked in rhythm as we rocked , as
though we had a cricket accompanying the story . She’d read to me in the dining
room on winter afternoons in front of the coal fire , with our cuckoo clock
ending the story with “Cuckoo ,” and at night when I’d ot in my own bed . I
must have given her no peace . Sometimes she read to me in the kitchen while
she sat churning , and the churning sobbed along with any story . It was
my ambition to have her read to me while I churned ; once she granted my wish ,
but she read off my story before I brought her butter. She was an expressive reader . When she was
reading “Puss in Boots ,” for instance , it was impossible not to know that she
distrusted all cats .
12
. In saying that her father used the telescope to “keep appointments with
eclipses” , Welty means that
(A)
the regularity of eclipses helped him avoid missing engagements
(B)
his attempts at astronomical observation met with failure
(C)
he made a point of observing major astronomical phenomena
(D)
he tried to instruct his children in the importance of keeping appointments
(E)
he invented ingenious new ways to use the telescope
13.
We can infer from the underlined lines in paragraph two that Welty’s father
stood on the front steps and sniffed first thing in the morning
(A)
because he disapproved of the day’s weather
(B)
because he suffered from nasal congestion
(C)
to enjoy the fragrance of the flowers
(D)
to detect signs of changes in the weather
(E)
in an instinctive response to fresh air
14
. The underlined word “measures” in paragraph three means
(A)
legislative actions (B) preventative steps (C) yardsticks (D) food rations (E) warnings
15
. When Welty’s mother exclaims “Just listen at that !” at the end of paragraph three , she wants
everyone to pay attention to
(A)
her husband’s advice
(B)
her memories of West Virginia
(C)
the sounds of the storm
(D)
her reasons for being unafraid
(E)
the noise the children are making
16
. Compared to Welty’s father , her mother can best be described as
(A)
more literate and more progressive
(B)
proud of her knowledge of the weather , but imprudent about storms
(C)
unafraid of ordinary storms , but deeply disturbed by tornadoes
(D)
more protective of her children , but less patient with them
(E)
less apt to foresee problems , but more apt to enjoy the moment
17
. The underlined word “fondest” means
(A)
most affectionate
(B)
most foolish
(C)
most radical
(D)
most cherished
(E)
most credulous
18.
By the the underlined phrase “brought her butter” , Welty means that she
(A)
manufactured butter
(B)
fetched butter
(C)
spread butter
(D)
purchased butter
(E)
melted butter
19
. Why does Welty recount these anecdotes about her parents ?
(A)
She wishes to prove that theirs was an unhappy marriage of opposites
(B)
The anecdotes are vivid illustrations of truths that she holds dear
(C)
She seeks to provide advice for travelers lost in the wilderness
(D)
She envisions her parents chiefly as humorous subjects for ironic
characterization
(E)
She wishes to provide background on early influences on her as a writer
Answer
Key
1
. D 2. A 3 . B 4 . D 5 . D 6 . D 7 . E 8 . B 9 . A 10 . A 11 . A 12 . C 13 . D
14 . B 15 . C 18 . E 17 . D 18 . A 19 . E
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