40 - ] Model SAT Tests - Test Forty

40 - ] Model SAT Tests

                                                 Test Forty

Select the best answer to each of the following questions ; then blacken the appropriate space on your answer sheet .

The sentences in this section may contain errors in grammar , usage , choice of words , or idioms . Either there is just one error in a sentence or the sentence is correct . Some words or phrases are underlined and lettered ; if the sentence is correct , select No error . Then blacken the appropriate space on your answer sheet .

Example

The region has a climate so severe that plants growing there rarely had been more

                                                 A                                 B                               C

than twelve inches high . No error

                                  D         E  

(A) (B) (C) (D) (E

1 . Irregardless of the danger , the outnumbered soldiers of the Light Brigade obeyed the

               A                                                     B

 rules of their commander and charged  the enemy forces . No error

                  C                                     D                                             E

(A) (B) (C) (D) (E)

2 . The President had designated Senator Frank as one of the Congressmen who are going

                                         A                                        B                                                         C

to attend the conference on nuclear waste disposal . No error

                                            D                                               E

(A) (B) (C) (D) (E)

3 . In American history , we studied the reasons that the American colonists came to  

                                                                       A                                                           B

oppose the British , the formation of the Continental Congress , and how they organized

                                               C                                                                            D

 the militia . No error

                           E

(A) (B) (C) (D) (E)

4 . The  fire officials attributed   the high casualty rate to the fact that not one of the more

                                      A                                                                                                          B

than  two thousand rooms in the hotel were equipped with sprinklers or smoke detectors .

                                                                              C                                       D  

No error

      E

(A) (B) (C) (D) (E)

5 . The students in the audience became restive and noisy when the curtain failed to raise

                                                           A                                        B                                          C

at the scheduled time . No error

                  D                        E

 (A) (B) (C) (D) (E)

6 . There have been  remarkable progress in the biological sciences since Crick and Watson

                      A                  B

jointly  discovered the structure of DNA . No error

C                                      D                               E

(A) (B) (C) (D) (E)

7 . If one follows the discipline of Hatha Yoga , you know the critical importance of

                                                                                       A                  B

purificatory processes , the regulation of breathing , and the adoption of  certain bodily

                                                                                                               C                            D                      

postures , such as the lotus position . No error

                                                                      E               

(A) (B) (C) (D) (E)

8 . Oprah Winfrey has the distinction of having promoted the sales of more serious

                                  A                 B                                                                C

contemporary novels than any talk show host . No error  

                                                D                                    E

(A) (B) (C) (D) (E)

9 . There is ongoing debate about how much of the increase in autism is real and how much

                 A                                                                           B 

 is the result of  improved diagnosis . No error

                C              D                                 E

(A) (B) (C) (D) (E)

10. The new inspector general’s office in Iraq operates under most unique rules that

                                                                                         A                      B

greatly limit  both its powers and its independence . No error

         C                                              D                                   E

(A) (B) (C) (D) (E)

11 . Chinese scientists analyzing the genome of the SARS virus have documented the

                                                                                                                           A

immense rapidity with which it evolved from an animal pathogen into one capable to

                                       B                        C                                                                   D

infecting human cells . No error  

                                               E

(A) (B) (C) (D) (E)

12 . Also in the program is a taped discussion with the late choreographer George

                                          A                       B                         C

Balanchine and a performance by Patricia McBride and Edward Villella of the pas de deux

                                       D           

 from “Dana and Acteon .”  No error

                                                      E

(A) (B) (C) (D) (E)

13 . Fifty years ago , movies on biblical themes , far from being the more controversial

                                          A                                               B                      C

Hollywood offerings , were among the least . No error

                                               D                                 E

(A) (B) (C) (D) (E)

14 . The Bronte Myth , Lucasta Miller’s study of the three British novelists , attempts to

                                                                                                                                       A

trace the historical route by which Charlotte and Emily Bronte ( and , to a less degree ,

                                                 B                                                                               C

Ann ) became popular cultural icons . No error

                             D                                        E

(A) (B) (C) (D) (E)

15 . Opinions on Charles Ives as a composer have always been split , with some listeners

                                                                                               A

regarding him as , at best , an entertaining eccentric , while others lauding him as the most

                                     B                                                        C                                                  D

influential composer of his age . No error

                                                             E

(A) (B) (C) (D) (E)

16 . Supporting sportive teams is , like sex and politics , one of those subjects traditionally

                                                      A      B

 to be avoided at dinner parties or family reunions , lest inflamed passions disrupt civility .

            C                                                                           D

No error 

       E  

(A) (B) (C) (D) (E)

17 . Reviewing the ballet , the Times dance critic expressed her liking for Damian Woetzel’s

                                                                                                                    A

affecting performance , which , she wrote , was more compelling  than the other dancers .

                                             B                                                C                              D                          

No error

        E

(A) (B) (C) (D) (E)

18 . The annual guest lecture , originally scheduled for  fall semester , is liable to  be

                                                                                A                                              B

 postponed  until spring because of the visiting lecturer’s extended illness . No error

         C                                                                                            D                           E

(A) (B) (C) (D) (E)

19 . In the nineteenth century photography was a window on the world for curious

                                                                                            A

members of the public , few of which  could ever hope to visit exotic lands in person .

                                                   B                       C                                                    D

No error

       E

(A) (B) (C) (D) (E) 

39 - ] Model SAT Tests - Test Thirty Nine

39- ] Model SAT Tests

 Test Thirty Nine

The questions that follow the next two passages relate to the content of both , and to their relationship . The correct response may be stated outright in the passage or merely suggested .

Questions 1 - 13 are based on the following passages .

Passage 1

The following passages are excerpted from popular articles on dolphins , the first dating from the 1960’s , the second written in 1990 .

            Most of the intelligent land animals have prehensile gasping organs for exploring their environment - hands in human beings and their anthropoid relatives , the sensitive inquiring trunk in the elephant is that his superior brain is unaccompanied by any type of manipulative organ . He has , however , a remarkable range-finding ability involving some sort of echo-sounding . Perhaps this acute sense - far more accurate than any that human ingenuity has been able to devise artificially - brings him greater knowledge of his watery surroundings than might at first seem possible . Human beings think of intelligence as geared to things . The hand and the tool are to us the unconscious symbols of our intellectual attainment . It is difficult for us to visualize another kind of lonely , almost disembodied intelligence floating in the wavering green fairyland of the sea an intelligence possibly near or comparable to our own but without hands to build , to transmit knowledge by writing , or to alter by one hairs-breath the planet’s surface . Yet at the same time there are indications that this is a warm , friendly , and eager intelligence quite capable of coming to the assistance of injured companions and striving to rescue them from drowning. Dolphins left the land when mammalian brains were still small and primitive . Without the stimulus provided by agile exploring fingers , these great sea mammals have yet taken a divergent road toward intelligence of a high order . Hidden in their sleek bodies is an impressively elaborated instrument , the reason for whose appearance is a complete enigma. It is as though both the human being and the dolphin were each part of some great eye which yearned to look both outward on eternity and inward to the sea’s heart - that fertile entity like the mind in its swarming and grotesque life .

Passage 2

          Nothing about dolphins has been more widely or passionately discussed over the centuries than their supposed intelligence and communicative abilities . In fact , a persistent dogma holds that dolphins are among the most intelligent of animals and that they communicate with one another in complex ways . Implicit in this argument is the belief that dolphin cultures are at least as ancient and rich as our own . To support the claim of high intelligence amongst dolphins , proponents note that they have large brains , live in societies marked as much by co-operative as by competitive interactions and rapidly learn the artificial tasks given to them in captivity . Indeed , dolphins are clearly capable of learning through observation and have good memories . People who spend time with captive dolphins are invariably impressed by their sense of humor , playfulness , quick comprehension of body language , command of situations , mental agility , and emotional resilience . Individual dolphins have distinctive personalities and trainers often speak of being trained by their subjects , rather than the other way round .

            The extremely varied repertoires of sounds made by dolphins are often invoked as  prima facie evidence of advanced communication abilities . In addition , some “scientific” experiments done by John Lilly and his associates during the 1950s and 1960s were claimed to show that dolphins communicate not only with one another but also with humans , mimicking human speech and reaching out across the boundaries that divide us .

            These conclusions about dolphin intelligence and communication have not withstood critical scrutiny . While they have fueled romantic speculation , then net impact has been to mislead . Rather than allowing dolphins to be discovered and appreciated for what they are . Lilly’s vision has forced us to measure these animals’ value according to how close they come to equaling or exceeding our own intelligence , virtue , and spiritual development .

            The issues of dolphin intelligence and communication have been inseparable in most people’s minds , and the presumed existence of one has been taken as proof of the other , a classic case of begging the question . Not surprisingly then , most experiments to evaluate dolphin intelligence have measured the animals’ capacity for cognitive processing as exhibited in their understanding of the rudiments of language .

            From the early work of researchers like Dwight Batteau and Jarvis Bastian through the more recent work of Louis Herman and associates , dolphins have been asked to accept simple information , in the form of acoustic or visual symbols representing verbs and nouns ,and then to act on the information following a set of commands from the experimenter .

            The widely publicized results have been somewhat disappointing . Although they have demonstrated that dolphins do have the primary skills necessary to support understanding and use of a language , they have not distinguished the dolphins from other animals in this respect . For example , some seals , animals we do not normally cite as members of the intellectual or communicative elite , have been found to have the same basic capabilities .

            What , then , do the results of experiments to fate mean ? Either we have not devised adequate tests to permit us to detect, measure, and rank intelligence as a measure of a given species’ ability to communicate , or we must acknowledge that the characteristics that we regard as rudimentary evidence of intelligence are held more commonly by many “lower” animals than we previously thought .

1. According to Passage 1 , which of the following statements about dolphins is true ?

(A) They have always been water dwelling creatures .

(B) They at one time possessed prehensile organs .

(C) They lived on land in prehistoric times .

(D) Their brains are no longer mammalian in nature .

(E) They developed brains to compensate for the lack of a prehensile organ .

2 . The author of Passage 1 suggests that human failure to understand the intelligence of the dolphin is due to                 

(A) the inadequacy of human range -finding equipment

(B) a lack of knowledge about the sea

(C) the want of a common language

(D) the primitive origins of the human brain

(E) the human inclination to judge other life by our own

3. In Passage 1 , the author’s primary purpose is apparently to

(A) examine the dolphin’s potential for surpassing humankind 

(B) question the need for prehensile organs in human development

(C) refute the theory that dolphins are unable to alter their physical environment

(D) reassess the nature and extent of dolphin intelligence

(E) indicate the superiority of human intelligence over that of the dolphin

4 . The underlined word “acute” in paragraph one , Passage 1 means                

(A) excruciating (B) severe (C) keen (D) sudden and intense (E) brief in duration

5 . The underlined “impressively elaborated instrument” referred to in Passage 1 is best interpreted to mean which of the following ?               

(A) A concealed manipulative organ

(B) An artificial range-finding device

(C) A complex , intelligent brain

(D) The dolphin’s hidden eye

(E) An apparatus for producing musical sounds

6 . According to the author’s simile at the end of  Passage 1  the human mind and the heart of the sea are alike in the both               

(A) teem with exotic forms of life

(B) argue in support of intelligence

(C) are necessary to the evolution of dolphins

(D) are directed outward

(E) share a penchant for the grotesque    

7 . Which of the following best characterizes the tone of Passage 1 ?          

(A) Restrained skepticism

(B) Pedantic assertion

(C) Wondering admiration

(D) Amused condensation

(E) Ironic speculation

8 . The author of Passage 2 puts quotation marks around the word “scientific” in paragraph two to indicate he                

(A) is faithfully reproducing Lilly’s own words

(B) intends to define the word later in the passage

(C) believes the reader is unfamiliar with the word as used by Lilly

(D) advocates adhering to the scientific method in all experiments

(E) has some doubts as to how scientific those experiments were

9 . The author of Passage 2 maintains that the writings of Lilly and his associates have                

(A) overstated the extent of dolphin intelligence

(B) been inadequately scrutinized by critics

(C) measured the worth of the dolphin family

(D) underrated dolphins as intelligent beings

 (E) established criteria foe evaluating dolphin intelligence

10 . By calling the argument summarized in the beginning of paragraph three Passage 2 a classic case of begging the question , the author of Passage 2 indicates he views the argument with                

(A) trepidation (B) optimism (C) detachment (D) skepticism (E)  credulity

11 . Which of the following would most undercut the studies on which the author bases his conclusion in the last paragraph of Passage 2 ?                 

(A) Evidence proving dolphin linguistic abilities to be far superior to those of other mammals

(B) An article recording attempts by seals and walruses to communicate with human beings

(C) The reorganization of current intelligence tests by species and level of difficulty

(D) A reassessment f the definition of the term “lower animals”

(E) The establishment of a project to develop new tests to detect intelligence in animals

12 . The author of Passage 2 would find Passage 2 would find Passage 1                 

(A) typical of the attitudes of Lilly and his associates

(B) remarkable for the perspective it offers

(C) indicative of the richness of dolphin culture

(D) supportive of his fundamental point of view

(E) intriguing for its far-reaching conclusions

13 . Compared to Passage 2 , Passage 1 is                

(A) more figurative

(B) less obscure

(C) more objective

(D) more current

(E) less speculative 

38 - ] Model SAT Tests - Test Thirty Eight

38 - ] Model SAT Tests

Test Thirty Eight

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

The writer John Updike muses on the significance of Mickey Mouse .

            Cartoon characters have soul as Carl Jung defined it in his Archetypes and the Collective Unconscious : “soul is a life-giving demon who plays his elfin game above and below human existence . “Without the “leaping and twinkling of the soul ,”Jung says , “man would rot away in his greatest passion , idleness .” The Mickey Mouse of the thirties shorts was a whirlwind of activity , with a host of unsuspected skills and a reluctant heroism that rose to every occasion . Like Chaplin and Douglas Fairbanks and Fred Astaire , he acted out our fantasies of endless nimbleness of perfect weightlessness . Yet withal , there was nothing aggressive or self-promoting about him , as there was about Popeye . Disney , interviewed in the thirties , said , “Sometimes , I’ve tried to figure out why Mickey appealed to the whole world . Everybody’s tried to figure it out . So far as I know , nobody has . He’s a pretty nice fellow who never does anybody any harm , who gets into scrapes through no fault of his own , but always managed to come up grinning . “This was perhaps Disney’s image of himself : for twenty years he did Mickey’s voice in the films , and would often say , “There’s a lot of the Mouse in me .” Mickey was a character created with his own pen , and nurtured on Disney’s memories of his mouse-ridden Kansas City studio and of the Missouri farm where his struggling father tried for time to make a living . Walt’s humble , scrambling beginnings remained embodied in the mouse , whom the Nazis , in a fury against the Mickey- inspired Allied legions ( the Allied code word on D-Day was “Mickey Mouse” ) , called “the most miserable ideal ever revealed…. mice are dirty .”

            But was Disney , like Mickey , just “a pretty nice fellow” ? He was until crossed in his driving perfectionism , his Napoleonic capacity to marshal men and take risks in the service of an artistic and entrepreneurial vision . He was one of those great Americans , like Edison and Henry Ford , who invented themselves in terms of a new technology . The technology - in Disney’s case , film animation - would have been anyway , but only a few driven men seized the full possibilities and made empires . In the dozen years between Steamboat Willie and Fantasia , the Disney studios took the art of animation to heights of ambition and accomplishment it would never have reached otherwise , and Disney’s personal zeal was the animating force . He created an empire of the mind , and its emperor was Mickey Mouse .

            The thirties were Mickey’s conquering decade . His image circled the globe . In Africa , tribesmen painfully had tiny mosaic Mickey Mouses inset into their front teeth , and a South African tribe refused to buy soap unless the cakes were embossed with Mickey’s image . Nor were the high and mighty immune to Mickey’s elemental appeal - King George V and Franklin Roosevelt insisted that all film showings they attended include a dose of Mickey Mouse. But other popular phantoms , like Felix the Cat , have faded, where Mickey has settled into the national collective consciousness . The television program revived him for my children’s generation , and the theme parks make him live for my grandchildren’s . Yet survival cannot be imposed through weight of publicity . Mickey’s persistence springs from something timeless in the image that has allowed it to pass in status from a fad to an icon .

            To take a bite out of our imagination , an icon must be simple . The ears , the wiggly tail , the red shorts , give us a Mickey . Donald Duck and Goofy , Bugs Bunny and Woody Woodpecker are inextricably bound up with the draftsmanship of the artists who make them move and squawk , but Mickey floats free . It was Claes Oldenburg’s pop art that first alerted me to the fact that Mickey Mouse had passed out of the realm of commercially generated image into that of artifact . A new Disney gadget , advertised on television , is a camera-like box that spouts bubbles when a key is turned ; the key consists of three circles , two mounted on a larger one , and the image is unmistakably Mickey . Like yin and yang , like the Christian cross  and the star of Israel . Mickey can be seen everywhere - a sign , a rune ,  hieroglyphic trace of a secret power , an electricity we want to plug into . Like totem poles , like African masks , Mickey stands at that intersection of abstraction and representation where magic connects .

1 . The author’s attitude toward Popeye in lines 6 -8 is primarily                    

(A) nostalgic (B) deprecatory (C) apathetic (D) vindictive (E) reverent

2 . By describing Mickey’s skills as “ unsuspected” and his heroism as “reluctant” (lines 5 and 6 ) , the author primarily conveys Mickey’s       

(A) unassuming nature

(B)  unrealistic success

(C) contradictory image

(D) ignominious failings

(E) idealistic character

3 . The underlined word “scrape” in line 12 means      

(A) abrasions

(B) harsh sounds

(C) small economies

(D) discarded fragments

(E) predicaments

4 . Bt saying “There’s a lot of the Mouse in me “ Disney revealed      

(A) his inability to distinguish himself as an individual

(B)the extent of his identification with his creation

(C) the desire to capitalize on his character’s popularity

(D) his fear of being surpassed by a creature he produced

(E) his somewhat negative image of himself

5 . The reference to the Nazis’ comments on Mickey in paragraph three can best be described as      

(A) a digression (B) a metaphor (C) an analysis  (D) an equivocation (E) a refutation

6 . The underlined word “crossed” means       

(A) traversed (B) confused (C) intersected (D) encountered (E) opposed

7 . The author views Disney as all of the following EXCEPT     

(A) a self-made man

(B) a demanding artist (C) an enterprising businessman

(D) the inventor of film animation

(E) an empire-builder

8 . The reference to the African tribesmen and to Franklin Roosevelt serve primarily to      

(A) demonstrate the improbability of Mickey’s reaching such disparate audiences

(B) dispel a misconception about the nature of Mickey’s popularity

(C) support the assertion that people of all backgrounds were drawn to Mickey Mouse

(D) show how much research the author has done into the early history of Disney cartoons

(E) answer the charges made by critics of Disney’s appeal

9 . The distinction made between  a “fad” and an “icon”  at the end of paragraph three can best be summarized as which of the following ?    

(A) The first is a popular fashion , the second attracts only a small group

(B) The first involves a greater degree of audience involvement than the second

(C) The first is less likely to need publicity than the second

(D) The first is less enduring in appeal than is the second

(E) The first conveys greater prestige than the second

10 . The phrase “take a bite out of our imagination” in paragraph four most nearly means        

(A) injure our creativity

(B) reduce our innovative capacity

(C) cut into our inspiration

(D) capture our fancies

(E) limit our visions

11 . The author’s description of the new Disney gadget  in paragraph four does which of the following ?    

(A) It suggests that popular new product lines are still being manufactured by Disney.

(B) It demonstrates that even a rudimentary outline can convey the image of Mickey.

(C) It illustrates the importance of television advertising in marketing new products .

(D) It disproves the notion that Disney’s death has undermined his mercantile empire .

(E) It refutes the author’s assertion that Mickey’s survival springs from something unhyped .

12 . Which of the following most resembles the new Disney gadget in paragraph four in presenting Mickey as an artifact ?       

(A) A comic book presenting the adventures of Mickey Mouse

(B) A rubber mask realistically portraying Mickey’s features

(C) A Mickey Mouse watch on which Mickey’s hands point at the time

(D)A Mickey’s Mouse waffle iron that makes waffles in the shape of three linked circles.  (E) A framed cell or single strip from an original Mickey Mouse animated film  

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