4 - ] Critical Reading Question
The Critical Reading
Question
Exercise D
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 the basis of what is [ stated ] or [ implied
] in the passages .
The following passage analyzes the
contributions of the Mexican cowboy to American culture and to the English
language .
The near-legendary history of the
American West might have been quite different had the Mexican not brought
cattle-raising to New Mexico and Texas . The Spanish style of herding cattle on
open ranges was different from the style of other Europeans , particularly the
English . The American rancho was possible because of the lack of enough
water for normal agricultural practices , and because of the easy
availability of large amounts of land. This land-extensive form of
cattle-raising required different techniques and brought forth the vaquero ,
the cowboy ( from the Spanish vaca , cow ) who tended the
widely-scattered herds of Spanish longhorn cattle . Because of the American
penchant to be considered the inventors of nearly everything , the wide-open
style of cattle-ranching was appropriated from the Mexican originators . As
popular a folk-hero as the American cowboy is , he owes his development to the
Spanish and the Mexicans , not the English . It is quite probable , as
McWilliams asserts , that “with the exception of the capital required to expand
the industry , there seems to have been nothing the American rancher or cowboy
contributed to the development of cattle-raising in the Southwest .”
Other contributions of the Mexican
cowboy were : the western-style saddle with a large , ornate horn : chaparejos
, or chaps ; lazo ,lasso ; la reata , lariat ; the cinch ; the halter ; the mecate
, or horse-hair rope ; chin strap for the hat ; feed bag for the horse ;
ten-gallon hat ( which comes from a mistranslation of a Spanish phrase “su
sombrero galoneado” that really meant a “festooned” or “alooned” hat ) .Cowboy
slang came from such words as : juzgado , hoosegow ; ranchero ,
rancher ; estampida , stampede ; calabozo , calaboose ; and pinto
for a painted horse .
Just as the Mexican association for
the protection of the rights of sheepherders gave rise to the American
Sheepman’s Association , the Spanish system of branding range animals and
registering these brands became standard practice among Anglo stockmen . The
idea of brands originated in North Africa and was brought to Spain by the Moors
, along with their stocky ponies . The Mexican brands are of great antiquity ,
having been copied from earlier Indian signs which include symbols of the sky--
sun , moon , and stars . Hernando Cortez is said to have been the first to use
a brand on the continent .
1 . Which of the following would be
the best title for this passage ?
(A) How to Herd Cattle
(B) The American Cowboy : A Romantic
Figure
(C) Farming Practices in Europe and
America
(D) Hispanic Contributions to
Western Ranching
(E) Spanish Influence on American
Culture
2 . It can be inferred from the
underlined lines in paragraph one that American ranches developed in the West
rather than the East because
(A) more Spanish-speaking people
lived in the West
(B)there was more money available in
the West
(C) people in the East were more
bound by tradition
(D) many jobless men in the East
wanted to become cowboys
(E) there was more unsettled land
available in the West
3 . The author gives examples of
cowboy slang in the underlined lines in paragraph two in order to
(A) arouse the reader’s interest
(B) show that he is familiar with
the subject
(C) prove that many cowboys lacked
education
(D) point out the differences
between America’s Eat and West
(E) demonstrate how these terms
originated
4 . According to the author , which
of the following did Mexicans contribute to ranching ?
I . Money to buy ranches
II . Methods of handling animals
III . Items of riding equipment
(A) I only (B) II only (C) III only (D)
I and II only (E) II and III only
5. Which of the following best
describes the development of this passage ?
(A) Major points , minor points
(B) Statement of problem , examples
, proposed solution
(C) Introduction , positive factors
, negative factors
(D) Cause , effects
(E) Comparison , contrast
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
In
this introduction to a pictorial survey of African art , the author describes
the impact of African sculpture .
When you first saw a piece of
African art , it impressed you as a unit ; you did not see it as a collection
of shapes or forms . This , of course , means that the shapes and volumes
within ths sculpture itself were coordinated so successfully that the viewer
was affected emotionally .
It is entirely valid to ask how ,
from a purely artistic point of view , this unity was achieved . And we must
also inquire whether there is a recurrent pattern of rules or a plastic
language and vocabulary which is responsible for the powerful communication of
emotion which the best African sculpture achieves . If thee is such a pattern or
rules , ae these rules applied consciously or instinctively to obtain so many
woks of such high artistic quality ?
It is obvious from the study of art
history that an intense and unified emotional experience , such as the
Christian credo of the Byzantine or 12th or 13th century
Europe , when expressed in art forms , gave great unity ,coherence , and power
to art . But such an integrated feeling was only the inspirational element for
the artist , only the starting point of the creative art . The expression of
this emotion and its realization in the work could be done only with discipline
and thorough knowledge of the craft . And the African sculptor was a highly
trained workman . He started his apprenticeship with a master when a child ,
and he learned the tribal styles and the use of the tools and the nature of
woods so mthoroughly that his carving became what Boas calls “motor action.” He
carved automatically and instinctively .
The African carver followe his
rules without thinking of them ; indee , they never seem to have been
formulated in words . But such rules existed , for accident and coincidence
cannot explain the common plastic language of African sculpture . There is too
great a consistency from one work to another . Yet , although the African ,
with amazing unsight into art , used these rules , I am certain that he was not
conscious of them . This is the great mystery of such a traditional art :
talent , or the ability certain people have , without conscious efforts , to
follow the rules which later the analyst can discover only from the work of art
which has already been created .
6 .
The author is primarily concerned with
(A) discussing
how African sculptors achieved their effects
(B) listing
the rules followed in African art
(C) relating
African art to the art of 12th or 13th century Europe
(D) integrating
emotion and realization
(E)
expressing the beauty of African art
7 .
According to the passage , one of the outstanding features of African sculpture
is
(A) its
subject matter
(B) the
feeling it arouses
(C) the
training of the artists
(D) its
strangeness
(E)
its emphasis on movement
8 .
The underlined word “plastic” means
(A) synthetic
(B) linguistic (C) consistent (D) sculptural(E) repetitive
9.According
to the information in the passage , an African carver can be best compared to a
(A) chef
following a recipe
(B) fluent
speaker of English who is just beginning to study French
(C)
batter who hits a homerun in his or her first baseball game
(D) concert
pianist performing a well-rehearsed concert
(E)
writer who is grammatically expert but stylistically uncreative
10 .
Which of the following titles best summarizes the content of the passage ?
(A) The
Apprenticeship of the African Sculptor
(B) The
History of African Sculpture
(C) How
African Art Achieves Unity
(D) Analyzing
African Art
(E)
The Unconscious Rules of African Art
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
The following passages present two portraits of grandmothers .
In Passage 1 Mary McCarthy shares her memories of her Catholic grandmother ,
who raised McCarthy and her brother after their parents’ death . In Passage 2
Caroline Heibrun tells of her Jewish grandmother , who died when Heibrun was 10
.
Passage
1
Luckily , I am writing a memoir and
not a work of fiction , and therefore I do not have to account for my
grandmother’s unpleasing character and look for the Oedipal fixation or the
traumatic experience which would give her that clinical authenticity that is
nowadays so desirable in portraiture . I do not know how my grandmother got the
way she was ; I assume , from family photographs and from the inflexibility of
her habits , that she was always the same , and it seems as idle to
inquire into her childhood as to ask what was ailing Iago or look for the error
in toilet-training that was responsible for Lady Macbeth . My grandmother’s
sexual history , bristling with infant morality in the usual style of her
period , was robust and decisive : three tall , handsome sons grew up , and one
attentive daughter . Her husband treated her kindly . She had money , many
grandchildren , and religion to sustain her . White hair , glasses , soft skin
, wrinkles , needlework - all the paraphernalia of motherliness were hers ;
yet it was a cold , grudging , disputatious old woman who sat all day in her
sunroom making tapestries from a pattern , scanning religious periodicals , and
setting her iron jaw against any infraction of her ways .
Combativeness was , I suppose , the
dominant trait in my grandmother’s nature . An aggressive churchgoer , she was
quite without Christian feeling ; the mercy of the Lord Jesus had never entered
her heart . Her piety was an act of war against the Protestant ascendancy . The
religious magazines on her table furnished her not with food for meditation but
with fresh pretexts for anger ; articles attacking birth control , divorce ,
mixed marriages , Darwin , and secular education were her favorite reading .
The teachings of the Church did not interest her , except as they were a rebuke
to others ; “Honor thy father and thy mother” , a commandment she was no longer
called upon to practice , was the one most frequently on her lips . The
extermination of Protestantism , rather than spiritual perfection , was the
boon she prayed for . Her mind was preoccupied with conversion ; the capture of
a soul for God much diverted her fancy -- it made one less Protestant in the
world . Foreign missions , with their overtones of good will and social service
, appealed to her less strongly ; it was not a harvest of souls that my
grandmother had in mind .
This pugnacity of my grandmother’s
did not confine itself to sectarian enthusiasm . There was the defense of her
furniture and her house against the imagined encroachments of visitors .With
her , this was not the gentle and tremulous protectiveness endemic in old
ladies , who fear for the safety of their possessions with a truly touching
anxiety , inferring the fragility of all things from the brittleness of their
old bones and hearing the crash of mortality in the perilous tinkling of a tea-cup
. My grandmother’s sentiment was more autocratic : she hated having her chairs
sat in or her lawns stepped on or the water turned on in her basins , for no
reason at all except pure officiousness ; she even grudged the mailman his
daily promenade up her sidewalk . Her home was a center for power , and she
would not allow it to be derogated by easy or democratic usage . Under her
jealous eye , its social properties had atrophied , and it functioned in
the family structure simply as a political headquarters . The family had no
friends , and entertaining was held to be a foolish and unnecessary courtesy as
between blood relations . Holiday dinners fell , as a duty , on the lesser
members of the organization : the daughters and daughters-in-law ( converts
from the false religion ) offered up Baked Alaska on a platter like the head of
John the Baptist , while the old people sat enthroned at the table , and only their
digestive processes acknowledged , with rumbling , enigmatic salvos , the fatal
day .
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Passage 2
My grandmother , one of Howe’s
sustaining women , not only ruled the household with an arm of iron , but
kept a store to support them all , her blond , blue-eyed husband enjoying life
rather than struggling through it . My grandmother was one of this powerful
women who know that they stand between their families and an outside world
filled with temptations to failure and shame . I remember her as thoroughly
loving . But there can be no question that she impaired her six daughters for
autonomy as thoroughly as if she had crippled them -- more so . The way to
security was marriage ; the dread that stood in the way of this was sexual
dalliance , above all pregnancy . The horror of pregnancy in an unmarried girl
is difficult , perhaps , to recapture now . Foe a Jewish girl not to be a
virgin on marriage was failure . The male’s rights were embodied in her lack of
sexual experience , in the knowledge that he was the first , the owner .
All attempts at autonomy had to be
frustrated . And of course , my grandmother’s greatest weapon was her own
vulnerability . She had worked hard , only her daughters knew how hard . She
could not be comforted or repaid - as my mother would feel repaid -- by
a daughter’s accomplishments , only by her marriage .
11 . McCarthy’s attitude toward her
grandmother is best described as
(A) tolerant (B) appreciative (C) indifferent
(D) nostalgic (E) sardonic
12 . The underlined word in Passage
1”idle” means
(A) slothful (B) passive (C) fallow (D)
useless (E) unoccupied
13 . According to McCarthy , a
portrait of a character in a work of odern fiction must have
(A) photographic realism
(B) psychological validity
(C) sympathetic attitudes
(D) religious qualities
(E) historical accuracy
14 . McCarthy’s primary point in
describing her grandmother’s physical appearance in the underlined lines
Passage 1 is best summarized by which of the following axioms ?
(A) Familiarity breeds contempt .
(B) You can’t judge a book by its
cover .
(C) One picture is worth more than
ten thousand words .
(D) There’s no smoke without fire .
(E) Blood is thicker than water .
15 . By describing ( Passage 1 ,
paragraph three - With her ,…..of a tea-cup ) the typical old woman’s fear for
the safety of her possessions , McCarthy emphasizes that
(A) her grandmother feared the
approach of death
(B) old women have dangerously
brittle bones
(C) her grandmother possessed
considerable wealth
(D) her grandmother had different
reasons for her actions
(E) visitors were unwelcome in her
grandmother’s home
16 .The underlined word “properties”
in Passage 1 means
(A) belongings (B) aspects (C) holdings
(D) titles (E) acreage
17. Heilbrun in Passage 2 is
critical of her grandmother primarily because
(A) she would not allow her husband
to enjoy himself
(B) she could not accept her own
vulnerability
(C) she fostered a sense of sexual
inadequacy
(D) she discouraged her daughters’
independence
(E) she physically injured her
children
18. By describing the extent of the
feeling against pregnancy in unmarried girls in Passage 2 - paragraph 1- The
horror of pregnancy … the owner ) , Heilbrun helps the reader understand
(A) her fear of being scorned as an
unwed mother
(B) why her grandmother strove to
limit her daughters’ autonomy
(C) her disapproval of contemporary
sexual practices
(D) her awareness of her mother’s
desire for happiness
(E) how unforgiving her grandmother
was
19 . In stating that her
grandmother’s greatest weapon was her own vulnerability ( Passage 2 -paragraph
2 ) , Heilbrun implies that her grandmother got her way by exploiting her
children’s
(A) sense of guilt
(B) innocence of evil
(C) feeling of indifference
(D) abdication of responsibility
(E) lack of experience
20. Each passage mentions which of
the following as being important to the writer’s grandmother ?
(A) governing the actions of others
(B) contributing to religious
organizations
(C) protecting her children’s virtue
(D) marrying off her daughters
(E) being surrounded by a circle of
friends
21 . McCarthy would most likely
react to the characterization of her grandmother , like Heilbrun’s grandmother
, as one of the “sustaining women” ( the underlined lines Passage 2 first two
lines ) by pointing out that
(A) this characterization is not in
good taste
(B) the characterization fails to
account for her grandmother’s piety
(C) the details of the family’s
social life support this characterization
(D) her grandmother’s actual conduct
is not in keeping with this characterization
(E) this characterization slightly
exaggerates her grandmother’s chief virtue
Answer Key
1 .D 2 . E 3 . E 4 . E 5 . A 6 . A 7
. B 8. D 9 . D 10 . E 11 . E 12 . D 13 . B 14 . B 15 . D 16 . B
17 . D 18 . B 19 . A 20 A 21 . D
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