Question:
Passage 1.Let every American, every lover of liberty, every.well wisher to his posterity, swear by the blood of the.Revolution, never to violate in the least particular,.the laws of the country; and never to tolerate their.violation by others. As the patriots of seventy-six did.to the support of the Declaration of Independence, so.to the support of the Constitution and Laws, let every.American pledge his life, his property, and his sacred.honor;—let every man remember that to violate the.law, is to trample on the blood of his father, and to.tear the character of his own, and his children’s.liberty. Let reverence for the laws, be breathed by.every American mother, to the lisping babe, that.prattles on her lap—let it be taught in schools, in.seminaries, and in colleges;—let it be written in.Primers, spelling books, and in Almanacs;—let it be.preached from the pulpit, proclaimed in legislative.halls, and enforced in courts of justice. And, in short,.let it become thepolitical religionof the nation;.and let the old and the young, the rich and the poor,.the grave and the gay, of all sexes and tongues, and.colors and conditions, sacrifice unceasingly upon its.altars.....When I so pressingly urge a strict observance of.all the laws, let me not be understood as saying there.are no bad laws, nor that grievances may not arise,.for the redress of which, no legal provisions have.been made. I mean to say no such thing. But I do.mean to say, that, although bad laws, if they exist,.should be repealed as soon as possible, still while they.continue in force, for the sake of example, they.should be religiously observed. So also in unprovided.cases. If such arise, let proper legal provisions be.made for them with the least possible delay; but, till.then, let them if not too intolerable, be borne with..There is no grievance that is a fit object of redress.by mob law. In any case that arises, as for instance,.the promulgation of abolitionism, one of two.positions is necessarily true; that is, the thing is right.within itself, and therefore deserves the protection of.all law and all good citizens; or, it is wrong, and.therefore proper to be prohibited by legal.enactments; and in neither case, is the interposition.of mob law, either necessary, justifiable, or excusable..Passage 2.Unjust laws exist; shall we be content to obey.them, or shall we endeavor to amend them, and obey.them until we have succeeded, or shall we transgress.them at once? Men generally, under such a.government as this, think that they ought to wait.until they have persuaded the majority to alter them..They think that, if they should resist, the remedy.would be worse than the evil. But it is the fault of the.government itself that the remedy is worse than the.evil. It makes it worse. Why is it not more apt to.anticipate and provide for reform? Why does it not.cherish its wise minority? Why does it cry and resist.before it is hurt?....If the injustice is part of the necessary friction of.the machine of government, let it go, let it go;.perchance it will wear smooth—certainly the.machine will wear out. If the injustice has a spring, or.a pulley, or a rope, or a crank, exclusively for itself,.then perhaps you may consider whether the remedy.will not be worse than the evil; but if it is of such a.nature that it requires you to be the agent of injustice.to another, then, I say, break the law. Let your life be.a counter friction to stop the machine. What I have.to do is to see, at any rate, that I do not lend myself to.the wrong which I condemn..As for adopting the ways which the State has.provided for remedying the evil, I know not of such.ways. They take too much time, and a man’s life will.be gone. I have other affairs to attend to. I came into.this world, not chiefly to make this a good place to.live in, but to live in it, be it good or bad. A man has.not everything to do, but something; and because he.cannot do everything, it is not necessary that he.should do something wrong.....I do not hesitate to say, that those who call.themselves Abolitionists should at once effectually.withdraw their support, both in person and property,.from the government...andnotwait till they.constitute a majority of one, before they suffer the.right to prevail through them. I think that it is.enough if they have God on their side, without.waiting for that other one. Moreover, any man more.right than his neighbors constitutes a majority of one.already.
Question: In Passage 1, Lincoln contends that breaking the law haswhich consequence?
 A. It slows the repeal of bad laws.
 B. It undermines and repudiates the nation’s values.
 C. It leads slowly but inexorably to rule by the mob.
 D. It creates divisions between social groups.
Answer:

Choices:
- A
- B
- C
- D

Passage 1.Let every American, every lover of liberty, every.well wisher to his posterity, swear by the blood of the.Revolution, never to violate in the least particular,.the laws of the country; and never to tolerate their.violation by others. As the patriots of seventy-six did.to the support of the Declaration of Independence, so.to the support of the Constitution and Laws, let every.American pledge his life, his property, and his sacred.honor;—let every man remember that to violate the.law, is to trample on the blood of his father, and to.tear the character of his own, and his children’s.liberty. Let reverence for the laws, be breathed by.every American mother, to the lisping babe, that.prattles on her lap—let it be taught in schools, in.seminaries, and in colleges;—let it be written in.Primers, spelling books, and in Almanacs;—let it be.preached from the pulpit, proclaimed in legislative.halls, and enforced in courts of justice. And, in short,.let it become thepolitical religionof the nation;.and let the old and the young, the rich and the poor,.the grave and the gay, of all sexes and tongues, and.colors and conditions, sacrifice unceasingly upon its.altars.....When I so pressingly urge a strict observance of.all the laws, let me not be understood as saying there.are no bad laws, nor that grievances may not arise,.for the redress of which, no legal provisions have.been made. I mean to say no such thing. But I do.mean to say, that, although bad laws, if they exist,.should be repealed as soon as possible, still while they.continue in force, for the sake of example, they.should be religiously observed. So also in unprovided.cases. If such arise, let proper legal provisions be.made for them with the least possible delay; but, till.then, let them if not too intolerable, be borne with..There is no grievance that is a fit object of redress.by mob law. In any case that arises, as for instance,.the promulgation of abolitionism, one of two.positions is necessarily true; that is, the thing is right.within itself, and therefore deserves the protection of.all law and all good citizens; or, it is wrong, and.therefore proper to be prohibited by legal.enactments; and in neither case, is the interposition.of mob law, either necessary, justifiable, or excusable..Passage 2.Unjust laws exist; shall we be content to obey.them, or shall we endeavor to amend them, and obey.them until we have succeeded, or shall we transgress.them at once? Men generally, under such a.government as this, think that they ought to wait.until they have persuaded the majority to alter them..They think that, if they should resist, the remedy.would be worse than the evil. But it is the fault of the.government itself that the remedy is worse than the.evil. It makes it worse. Why is it not more apt to.anticipate and provide for reform? Why does it not.cherish its wise minority? Why does it cry and resist.before it is hurt?....If the injustice is part of the necessary friction of.the machine of government, let it go, let it go;.perchance it will wear smooth—certainly the.machine will wear out. If the injustice has a spring, or.a pulley, or a rope, or a crank, exclusively for itself,.then perhaps you may consider whether the remedy.will not be worse than the evil; but if it is of such a.nature that it requires you to be the agent of injustice.to another, then, I say, break the law. Let your life be.a counter friction to stop the machine. What I have.to do is to see, at any rate, that I do not lend myself to.the wrong which I condemn..As for adopting the ways which the State has.provided for remedying the evil, I know not of such.ways. They take too much time, and a man’s life will.be gone. I have other affairs to attend to. I came into.this world, not chiefly to make this a good place to.live in, but to live in it, be it good or bad. A man has.not everything to do, but something; and because he.cannot do everything, it is not necessary that he.should do something wrong.....I do not hesitate to say, that those who call.themselves Abolitionists should at once effectually.withdraw their support, both in person and property,.from the government...andnotwait till they.constitute a majority of one, before they suffer the.right to prevail through them. I think that it is.enough if they have God on their side, without.waiting for that other one. Moreover, any man more.right than his neighbors constitutes a majority of one.already.
Question: In Passage 1, Lincoln contends that breaking the law haswhich consequence?
 A. It slows the repeal of bad laws.
 B. It undermines and repudiates the nation’s values.
 C. It leads slowly but inexorably to rule by the mob.
 D. It creates divisions between social groups.
Answer: B


Question:
Passage 1.Let every American, every lover of liberty, every.well wisher to his posterity, swear by the blood of the.Revolution, never to violate in the least particular,.the laws of the country; and never to tolerate their.violation by others. As the patriots of seventy-six did.to the support of the Declaration of Independence, so.to the support of the Constitution and Laws, let every.American pledge his life, his property, and his sacred.honor;—let every man remember that to violate the.law, is to trample on the blood of his father, and to.tear the character of his own, and his children’s.liberty. Let reverence for the laws, be breathed by.every American mother, to the lisping babe, that.prattles on her lap—let it be taught in schools, in.seminaries, and in colleges;—let it be written in.Primers, spelling books, and in Almanacs;—let it be.preached from the pulpit, proclaimed in legislative.halls, and enforced in courts of justice. And, in short,.let it become thepolitical religionof the nation;.and let the old and the young, the rich and the poor,.the grave and the gay, of all sexes and tongues, and.colors and conditions, sacrifice unceasingly upon its.altars.....When I so pressingly urge a strict observance of.all the laws, let me not be understood as saying there.are no bad laws, nor that grievances may not arise,.for the redress of which, no legal provisions have.been made. I mean to say no such thing. But I do.mean to say, that, although bad laws, if they exist,.should be repealed as soon as possible, still while they.continue in force, for the sake of example, they.should be religiously observed. So also in unprovided.cases. If such arise, let proper legal provisions be.made for them with the least possible delay; but, till.then, let them if not too intolerable, be borne with..There is no grievance that is a fit object of redress.by mob law. In any case that arises, as for instance,.the promulgation of abolitionism, one of two.positions is necessarily true; that is, the thing is right.within itself, and therefore deserves the protection of.all law and all good citizens; or, it is wrong, and.therefore proper to be prohibited by legal.enactments; and in neither case, is the interposition.of mob law, either necessary, justifiable, or excusable..Passage 2.Unjust laws exist; shall we be content to obey.them, or shall we endeavor to amend them, and obey.them until we have succeeded, or shall we transgress.them at once? Men generally, under such a.government as this, think that they ought to wait.until they have persuaded the majority to alter them..They think that, if they should resist, the remedy.would be worse than the evil. But it is the fault of the.government itself that the remedy is worse than the.evil. It makes it worse. Why is it not more apt to.anticipate and provide for reform? Why does it not.cherish its wise minority? Why does it cry and resist.before it is hurt?....If the injustice is part of the necessary friction of.the machine of government, let it go, let it go;.perchance it will wear smooth—certainly the.machine will wear out. If the injustice has a spring, or.a pulley, or a rope, or a crank, exclusively for itself,.then perhaps you may consider whether the remedy.will not be worse than the evil; but if it is of such a.nature that it requires you to be the agent of injustice.to another, then, I say, break the law. Let your life be.a counter friction to stop the machine. What I have.to do is to see, at any rate, that I do not lend myself to.the wrong which I condemn..As for adopting the ways which the State has.provided for remedying the evil, I know not of such.ways. They take too much time, and a man’s life will.be gone. I have other affairs to attend to. I came into.this world, not chiefly to make this a good place to.live in, but to live in it, be it good or bad. A man has.not everything to do, but something; and because he.cannot do everything, it is not necessary that he.should do something wrong.....I do not hesitate to say, that those who call.themselves Abolitionists should at once effectually.withdraw their support, both in person and property,.from the government...andnotwait till they.constitute a majority of one, before they suffer the.right to prevail through them. I think that it is.enough if they have God on their side, without.waiting for that other one. Moreover, any man more.right than his neighbors constitutes a majority of one.already.
Question: The primary purpose of each passage is to
 A. make an argument about the difference between legal duties and moral imperatives.
 B. discuss how laws ought to be enacted and changed in a democracy.
 C. advance a view regarding whether individuals should follow all of the country’s laws.
 D. articulate standards by which laws can be evaluated as just or unjust.
Answer:

Choices:
- A
- B
- C
- D

Passage 1.Let every American, every lover of liberty, every.well wisher to his posterity, swear by the blood of the.Revolution, never to violate in the least particular,.the laws of the country; and never to tolerate their.violation by others. As the patriots of seventy-six did.to the support of the Declaration of Independence, so.to the support of the Constitution and Laws, let every.American pledge his life, his property, and his sacred.honor;—let every man remember that to violate the.law, is to trample on the blood of his father, and to.tear the character of his own, and his children’s.liberty. Let reverence for the laws, be breathed by.every American mother, to the lisping babe, that.prattles on her lap—let it be taught in schools, in.seminaries, and in colleges;—let it be written in.Primers, spelling books, and in Almanacs;—let it be.preached from the pulpit, proclaimed in legislative.halls, and enforced in courts of justice. And, in short,.let it become thepolitical religionof the nation;.and let the old and the young, the rich and the poor,.the grave and the gay, of all sexes and tongues, and.colors and conditions, sacrifice unceasingly upon its.altars.....When I so pressingly urge a strict observance of.all the laws, let me not be understood as saying there.are no bad laws, nor that grievances may not arise,.for the redress of which, no legal provisions have.been made. I mean to say no such thing. But I do.mean to say, that, although bad laws, if they exist,.should be repealed as soon as possible, still while they.continue in force, for the sake of example, they.should be religiously observed. So also in unprovided.cases. If such arise, let proper legal provisions be.made for them with the least possible delay; but, till.then, let them if not too intolerable, be borne with..There is no grievance that is a fit object of redress.by mob law. In any case that arises, as for instance,.the promulgation of abolitionism, one of two.positions is necessarily true; that is, the thing is right.within itself, and therefore deserves the protection of.all law and all good citizens; or, it is wrong, and.therefore proper to be prohibited by legal.enactments; and in neither case, is the interposition.of mob law, either necessary, justifiable, or excusable..Passage 2.Unjust laws exist; shall we be content to obey.them, or shall we endeavor to amend them, and obey.them until we have succeeded, or shall we transgress.them at once? Men generally, under such a.government as this, think that they ought to wait.until they have persuaded the majority to alter them..They think that, if they should resist, the remedy.would be worse than the evil. But it is the fault of the.government itself that the remedy is worse than the.evil. It makes it worse. Why is it not more apt to.anticipate and provide for reform? Why does it not.cherish its wise minority? Why does it cry and resist.before it is hurt?....If the injustice is part of the necessary friction of.the machine of government, let it go, let it go;.perchance it will wear smooth—certainly the.machine will wear out. If the injustice has a spring, or.a pulley, or a rope, or a crank, exclusively for itself,.then perhaps you may consider whether the remedy.will not be worse than the evil; but if it is of such a.nature that it requires you to be the agent of injustice.to another, then, I say, break the law. Let your life be.a counter friction to stop the machine. What I have.to do is to see, at any rate, that I do not lend myself to.the wrong which I condemn..As for adopting the ways which the State has.provided for remedying the evil, I know not of such.ways. They take too much time, and a man’s life will.be gone. I have other affairs to attend to. I came into.this world, not chiefly to make this a good place to.live in, but to live in it, be it good or bad. A man has.not everything to do, but something; and because he.cannot do everything, it is not necessary that he.should do something wrong.....I do not hesitate to say, that those who call.themselves Abolitionists should at once effectually.withdraw their support, both in person and property,.from the government...andnotwait till they.constitute a majority of one, before they suffer the.right to prevail through them. I think that it is.enough if they have God on their side, without.waiting for that other one. Moreover, any man more.right than his neighbors constitutes a majority of one.already.
Question: The primary purpose of each passage is to
 A. make an argument about the difference between legal duties and moral imperatives.
 B. discuss how laws ought to be enacted and changed in a democracy.
 C. advance a view regarding whether individuals should follow all of the country’s laws.
 D. articulate standards by which laws can be evaluated as just or unjust.
Answer: C


Question:
The Venus flytrap [Dionaea muscipula] needs to know when an ideal meal is crawling across its leaves. Closing its trap requires a huge expense of energy,  and reopening the trap can take several hours, soDionaea only wants to spring closed when it's sure that the dawdling insect visiting its surface is large enough to be worth its time. The large black hairs on their lobes allow the Venus flytraps to literally feel their prey, and they act as triggers that spring thetrap closed when the proper prey makes its way across the trap. If the insect touches just one hair, the trap will not spring shut; but a large enough bug will likely touch two hairs within about twenty seconds, and that signal springs the Venus flytrap into action.We can look at this system as analogous to short-term memory. First, the flytrap encodes the information (forms the memory) that something (it doesn't know what) has touched one of its hairs. Then it stores this information for a number of 20 seconds (retains the memory) and finally retrieves this information (recalls the memory) once a second hair is touched. If a small ant takes a while to get from one hair to the next, the trap will have forgotten the first touch by the time the ant brushes up against25 the next hair. In other words, it loses the storage of the information, doesn't close, and the anthappily meanders on. How does the plant encode and store the information from the unassuming bug's encounter with the first hair? How does it30 remember the first touch in order to react upon the second?Scientists have been puzzled by these questions ever since John Burdon-Sanderson's early report on the physiology of the Venus flytrap in 1882 . A35 century later, Dieter Hodick and Andreas Sievers at the University of Bonn in Germany proposed that the flytrap stored information regarding how many hairs have been touched in the electric charge of its leaf. Their model is quite elegant in its simplicity.40 In their studies, they discovered that touching a trigger hair on the Venus flytrap causes an electric action potential [a temporary reversal in the electrical polarity of a cell membrane] that induces calcium channels to open in the trap (this 45 coupling of action potentials and the opening of calcium channels is similar to the processes that occur during communication between human neurons), thus causing a rapid increase in the concentration of calcium ions.They proposed that the trap requires a relatively high concentration of calcium in order to close and that a single action potential from just one trigger hair being touched does not reach this level. Therefore, a second hair needs to be stimulated to 55 push the calcium concentration over this threshold and spring the trap. The encoding of the information requires maintaining a high enough level of calcium so that a second increase (triggered by touching the second hair) pushes the total concentration of 60 calcium over the threshold. As the calcium ion concentrations dissipate over time, if the second touch and potential don't happen quickly, the final concentration after the second trigger won't be high enough to close the trap, and the memory is lost.65 Subsequent research supports this model. Alexander Volkov and his colleagues at Oakwood University in Alabama first demonstrated that it is indeed electricity that causes the Venus flytrap to close. To test the model they rigged up very fine70 electrodes and applied an electrical current to the open lobes of the trap. This made the trap close without any direct touch to its trigger hairs (while they didn't measure calcium levels, the current likely led to increases). When they modified this 75 experiment by altering the amount of electrical current, Volkov could determine the exact electrical charge needed for the trap to close. As long as fourteen microcoulombs-a tiny bit more than the static electricity generated by rubbing two balloons80 together-flowed between the two electrodes, the trap closed. This could come as one large burst or as a series of smaller charges within twenty seconds. If it took longer than twenty seconds to accumulate the total charge, the trap would remain open
Question: Based on the passage, a significant advantage of the Venus flytrap's requirement for multiple triggers is that it
 A. enables the plant to identify the species of its prey.
 B. conserves the plant's calcium reserves.
 C. safeguards the plant's energy supply.
 D. prevents the plant from closing before capturing its prey.
Answer:

Choices:
- A
- B
- C
- D

The Venus flytrap [Dionaea muscipula] needs to know when an ideal meal is crawling across its leaves. Closing its trap requires a huge expense of energy,  and reopening the trap can take several hours, soDionaea only wants to spring closed when it's sure that the dawdling insect visiting its surface is large enough to be worth its time. The large black hairs on their lobes allow the Venus flytraps to literally feel their prey, and they act as triggers that spring thetrap closed when the proper prey makes its way across the trap. If the insect touches just one hair, the trap will not spring shut; but a large enough bug will likely touch two hairs within about twenty seconds, and that signal springs the Venus flytrap into action.We can look at this system as analogous to short-term memory. First, the flytrap encodes the information (forms the memory) that something (it doesn't know what) has touched one of its hairs. Then it stores this information for a number of 20 seconds (retains the memory) and finally retrieves this information (recalls the memory) once a second hair is touched. If a small ant takes a while to get from one hair to the next, the trap will have forgotten the first touch by the time the ant brushes up against25 the next hair. In other words, it loses the storage of the information, doesn't close, and the anthappily meanders on. How does the plant encode and store the information from the unassuming bug's encounter with the first hair? How does it30 remember the first touch in order to react upon the second?Scientists have been puzzled by these questions ever since John Burdon-Sanderson's early report on the physiology of the Venus flytrap in 1882 . A35 century later, Dieter Hodick and Andreas Sievers at the University of Bonn in Germany proposed that the flytrap stored information regarding how many hairs have been touched in the electric charge of its leaf. Their model is quite elegant in its simplicity.40 In their studies, they discovered that touching a trigger hair on the Venus flytrap causes an electric action potential [a temporary reversal in the electrical polarity of a cell membrane] that induces calcium channels to open in the trap (this 45 coupling of action potentials and the opening of calcium channels is similar to the processes that occur during communication between human neurons), thus causing a rapid increase in the concentration of calcium ions.They proposed that the trap requires a relatively high concentration of calcium in order to close and that a single action potential from just one trigger hair being touched does not reach this level. Therefore, a second hair needs to be stimulated to 55 push the calcium concentration over this threshold and spring the trap. The encoding of the information requires maintaining a high enough level of calcium so that a second increase (triggered by touching the second hair) pushes the total concentration of 60 calcium over the threshold. As the calcium ion concentrations dissipate over time, if the second touch and potential don't happen quickly, the final concentration after the second trigger won't be high enough to close the trap, and the memory is lost.65 Subsequent research supports this model. Alexander Volkov and his colleagues at Oakwood University in Alabama first demonstrated that it is indeed electricity that causes the Venus flytrap to close. To test the model they rigged up very fine70 electrodes and applied an electrical current to the open lobes of the trap. This made the trap close without any direct touch to its trigger hairs (while they didn't measure calcium levels, the current likely led to increases). When they modified this 75 experiment by altering the amount of electrical current, Volkov could determine the exact electrical charge needed for the trap to close. As long as fourteen microcoulombs-a tiny bit more than the static electricity generated by rubbing two balloons80 together-flowed between the two electrodes, the trap closed. This could come as one large burst or as a series of smaller charges within twenty seconds. If it took longer than twenty seconds to accumulate the total charge, the trap would remain open
Question: Based on the passage, a significant advantage of the Venus flytrap's requirement for multiple triggers is that it
 A. enables the plant to identify the species of its prey.
 B. conserves the plant's calcium reserves.
 C. safeguards the plant's energy supply.
 D. prevents the plant from closing before capturing its prey.
Answer: C


Question:
Scientists believe that iron meteorites come from.the cores of asteroids that melted. But what happened.to the corresponding rocky material that formed the.mantles of these bodies? A few asteroids have spectra^1.that match those of mantle rocks, but they are very.rare. Some nonmetallic meteorites come from.asteroids that have partially or wholly melted, but.these do not match the minerals we would expect to.see in the missing mantles of the iron parent bodies..These exotic meteorites must come from some other.kind of parent body instead..The rarity of mantle rocks in our meteorite.collection and in the asteroid belt, known as the.“missing mantle problem,” is a long-standing puzzle..There are several reasons why iron fragments might.survive better than rocky fragments when asteroids.break apart. Iron lies in the core of a differentiated.asteroid, while rocky material lies near the surface..Thus, rocky material will be the first to be removed.when an asteroid is bombarded, while iron is the last.to be exposed. As a result, rocky fragments have to.survive in space for longer than iron ones. Most of the.rocky mantle may be peeled away in small fragments.—chips from the surface—while the iron core remains.as a single piece, making it harder to disrupt later. Last.and most important, iron is much stronger than rock:.a piece of iron is likely to survive in the asteroid belt at.least 10 times longer than a rocky fragment of the.same size..If most differentiated bodies broke apart early in.the solar system, perhaps all the mantle material has.been ground down to dust and lost over the billions of.years since then. This would mean that intact.differentiated asteroids are very rare in the asteroid.belt today. Perhaps Vesta [a differentiated asteroid.with a diameter of more than 300 miles] and a handful.of others are all that remain..However, collisional erosion cannot be the whole.story. Primitive asteroids, the parent bodies of.chondritic meteorites [the most common type of.meteorite found on Earth], are no stronger than the.mantle rocks from differentiated asteroids. How did.so many primitive asteroids survive when almost.none of the differentiated ones did? Part of the.explanation may simply be that differentiated bodies.were relatively rare to begin with and none have.survived. Still, if almost all differentiated bodies were.destroyed in violent collisions, how did Vesta survive.with only a single large crater on its surface?.Astronomer William Bottke and his colleagues.recently came up with a possible explanation: perhaps.the parent bodies of the iron meteorites formed closer.to the Sun, in the region that now contains the.terrestrial planets. Objects would have been more.tightly packed nearer the Sun, so collisions would.have been more frequent than in the asteroid belt..Many, perhaps most, differentiated bodies were.disrupted by violent collisions. Gravitational.perturbations from larger bodies scattered some of.these fragments into the asteroid belt. Both iron and.rocky fragments arrived in the asteroid belt, but only.the stronger iron objects have survived for the age of.the solar system. Later on, the parent bodies of.primitive meteorites formed in the asteroid belt. Most.of these objects survived, leaving an asteroid belt.today that is a mixture of intact primitive bodies and.fragments of iron..(^1) Characteristic wavelengths of light that asteroids reflect
Question: The main purpose of the passage is to
 A. discuss a study intended to explain the high number of meteorites on Earth that have come from primitive asteroids.
 B. describe competing hypotheses about the conditions under which primitive asteroids initially formed.
 C. present a scientific debate about the prevalence of differentiated asteroids in the asteroid belt in the early solar system.
 D. account for the scarcity of a component of differentiated asteroids in the asteroid belt and among meteorites on Earth.
Answer:

Choices:
- A
- B
- C
- D

Scientists believe that iron meteorites come from.the cores of asteroids that melted. But what happened.to the corresponding rocky material that formed the.mantles of these bodies? A few asteroids have spectra^1.that match those of mantle rocks, but they are very.rare. Some nonmetallic meteorites come from.asteroids that have partially or wholly melted, but.these do not match the minerals we would expect to.see in the missing mantles of the iron parent bodies..These exotic meteorites must come from some other.kind of parent body instead..The rarity of mantle rocks in our meteorite.collection and in the asteroid belt, known as the.“missing mantle problem,” is a long-standing puzzle..There are several reasons why iron fragments might.survive better than rocky fragments when asteroids.break apart. Iron lies in the core of a differentiated.asteroid, while rocky material lies near the surface..Thus, rocky material will be the first to be removed.when an asteroid is bombarded, while iron is the last.to be exposed. As a result, rocky fragments have to.survive in space for longer than iron ones. Most of the.rocky mantle may be peeled away in small fragments.—chips from the surface—while the iron core remains.as a single piece, making it harder to disrupt later. Last.and most important, iron is much stronger than rock:.a piece of iron is likely to survive in the asteroid belt at.least 10 times longer than a rocky fragment of the.same size..If most differentiated bodies broke apart early in.the solar system, perhaps all the mantle material has.been ground down to dust and lost over the billions of.years since then. This would mean that intact.differentiated asteroids are very rare in the asteroid.belt today. Perhaps Vesta [a differentiated asteroid.with a diameter of more than 300 miles] and a handful.of others are all that remain..However, collisional erosion cannot be the whole.story. Primitive asteroids, the parent bodies of.chondritic meteorites [the most common type of.meteorite found on Earth], are no stronger than the.mantle rocks from differentiated asteroids. How did.so many primitive asteroids survive when almost.none of the differentiated ones did? Part of the.explanation may simply be that differentiated bodies.were relatively rare to begin with and none have.survived. Still, if almost all differentiated bodies were.destroyed in violent collisions, how did Vesta survive.with only a single large crater on its surface?.Astronomer William Bottke and his colleagues.recently came up with a possible explanation: perhaps.the parent bodies of the iron meteorites formed closer.to the Sun, in the region that now contains the.terrestrial planets. Objects would have been more.tightly packed nearer the Sun, so collisions would.have been more frequent than in the asteroid belt..Many, perhaps most, differentiated bodies were.disrupted by violent collisions. Gravitational.perturbations from larger bodies scattered some of.these fragments into the asteroid belt. Both iron and.rocky fragments arrived in the asteroid belt, but only.the stronger iron objects have survived for the age of.the solar system. Later on, the parent bodies of.primitive meteorites formed in the asteroid belt. Most.of these objects survived, leaving an asteroid belt.today that is a mixture of intact primitive bodies and.fragments of iron..(^1) Characteristic wavelengths of light that asteroids reflect
Question: The main purpose of the passage is to
 A. discuss a study intended to explain the high number of meteorites on Earth that have come from primitive asteroids.
 B. describe competing hypotheses about the conditions under which primitive asteroids initially formed.
 C. present a scientific debate about the prevalence of differentiated asteroids in the asteroid belt in the early solar system.
 D. account for the scarcity of a component of differentiated asteroids in the asteroid belt and among meteorites on Earth.
Answer: D


Question:
In 2000, a neuroscientist at University College London named Eleanor Maguire wanted to find out what effect, if any, all that driving around the  labyrinthine streets of London might have oncabbies' brains. When she brought sixteen taxi drivers into her lab and examined their brains in an MRI scanner, she found one surprising and important difference. The right posterior hippocampus, a part of the brain known to beinvolved in spatial navigation, was 7 percent larger than normal in the cabbies-a small but very significant difference. Maguire concluded that all of that way-finding around London had physically altered the gross structure of their brains. The moreyears a cabbie had been on the road, the more pronounced the effect.The brain is a mutable organ, capable-within limits-of reorganizing itself and readapting to new kinds of sensory input, a phenomenon known asneuroplasticity. It had long been thought that the adult brain was incapable of spawning new neurons-that while learning caused synapses to rearrange themselves and new links between brain cells to form, the brain's basic anatomical structurewas more or less static. Maguire's study suggested the old inherited wisdom was simply not true.After her groundbreaking study of London cabbies, Maguire decided to turn her attention to mental athletes. She teamed up with ElizabethValentine and John Wilding, authors of the academic monograph Superior Memory, to study ten individuals who had finished near the top of the World Memory Championship. They wanted to find out if the memorizers' brains were-like the Londoncabbies'-structurally different from the rest of ours, or if they were somehow just making better use of memory abilities that we all possess.The researchers put both the mental athletes and a group of matched control subjects into MRI scanners  and asked them to memorize three-digit numbers, black-and-white photographs of people's faces, and magnified images of snowflakes, while their brains were being scanned. Maguire and her team thought it was possible that they might discover anatomical 45 differences in the brains of the memory champs, evidence that their brains had somehow reorganized themselves in the process of doing all that intensive remembering. But when the researchers reviewed the imaging data, not a single significant structural50 difference turned up. The brains of the mental athletes appeared to be indistinguishable from those of the control subjects. What's more, on every single test of general cognitive ability, the mental athletes' scores came back well within the normal range. The 55 memory champs weren't smarter, and they didn't have special brains.But there was one telling difference between the brains of the mental athletes and the control subjects: When the researchers looked at which parts of the 60 brain were lighting up when the mental athletes were memorizing, they found that they were activating entirely different circuitry. According to the functional MRIs [fMRIs], regions of the brain that were less active in the control subjects seemed to be 65 working in overdrive for the mental athletes.Surprisingly, when the mental athletes were learning new information, they were engaging several regions of the brain known to be involved in two specific tasks: visual memory and spatial70 navigation, including the same right posterior hippocampal region that the London cabbies had enlarged with all their daily way-finding. At first glance, this wouldn't seem to make any sense. Why would mental athletes be conjuring images in 75 their mind's eye when they were trying to learn three-digit numbers? Why should they be navigating like London cabbies when they're supposed to be remembering the shapes of snowflakes?Maguire and her team asked the mental athletes 80 to describe exactly what was going through their minds as they memorized. The mental athletes said they were consciously converting the information they were being asked to memorize into images, and distributing those images along familiar spatial85 journeys. They weren't doing this automatically, or because it was an inborn talent they'd nurtured since childhood. Rather, the unexpected patterns of neural activity that Maguire's fMRIs turned up were the result of training and practice
Question: The passage most strongly suggests that mental athletes are successful at memorization because they
 A. exploit parts of the brain not normally used in routine memorization.
 B. convert information they are trying to memorize into abstract symbols.
 C. organize information into numerical lists prior to memorization.
 D. exercise their brains regularly through puzzles and other mental challenges
Answer:

Choices:
- A
- B
- C
- D

In 2000, a neuroscientist at University College London named Eleanor Maguire wanted to find out what effect, if any, all that driving around the  labyrinthine streets of London might have oncabbies' brains. When she brought sixteen taxi drivers into her lab and examined their brains in an MRI scanner, she found one surprising and important difference. The right posterior hippocampus, a part of the brain known to beinvolved in spatial navigation, was 7 percent larger than normal in the cabbies-a small but very significant difference. Maguire concluded that all of that way-finding around London had physically altered the gross structure of their brains. The moreyears a cabbie had been on the road, the more pronounced the effect.The brain is a mutable organ, capable-within limits-of reorganizing itself and readapting to new kinds of sensory input, a phenomenon known asneuroplasticity. It had long been thought that the adult brain was incapable of spawning new neurons-that while learning caused synapses to rearrange themselves and new links between brain cells to form, the brain's basic anatomical structurewas more or less static. Maguire's study suggested the old inherited wisdom was simply not true.After her groundbreaking study of London cabbies, Maguire decided to turn her attention to mental athletes. She teamed up with ElizabethValentine and John Wilding, authors of the academic monograph Superior Memory, to study ten individuals who had finished near the top of the World Memory Championship. They wanted to find out if the memorizers' brains were-like the Londoncabbies'-structurally different from the rest of ours, or if they were somehow just making better use of memory abilities that we all possess.The researchers put both the mental athletes and a group of matched control subjects into MRI scanners  and asked them to memorize three-digit numbers, black-and-white photographs of people's faces, and magnified images of snowflakes, while their brains were being scanned. Maguire and her team thought it was possible that they might discover anatomical 45 differences in the brains of the memory champs, evidence that their brains had somehow reorganized themselves in the process of doing all that intensive remembering. But when the researchers reviewed the imaging data, not a single significant structural50 difference turned up. The brains of the mental athletes appeared to be indistinguishable from those of the control subjects. What's more, on every single test of general cognitive ability, the mental athletes' scores came back well within the normal range. The 55 memory champs weren't smarter, and they didn't have special brains.But there was one telling difference between the brains of the mental athletes and the control subjects: When the researchers looked at which parts of the 60 brain were lighting up when the mental athletes were memorizing, they found that they were activating entirely different circuitry. According to the functional MRIs [fMRIs], regions of the brain that were less active in the control subjects seemed to be 65 working in overdrive for the mental athletes.Surprisingly, when the mental athletes were learning new information, they were engaging several regions of the brain known to be involved in two specific tasks: visual memory and spatial70 navigation, including the same right posterior hippocampal region that the London cabbies had enlarged with all their daily way-finding. At first glance, this wouldn't seem to make any sense. Why would mental athletes be conjuring images in 75 their mind's eye when they were trying to learn three-digit numbers? Why should they be navigating like London cabbies when they're supposed to be remembering the shapes of snowflakes?Maguire and her team asked the mental athletes 80 to describe exactly what was going through their minds as they memorized. The mental athletes said they were consciously converting the information they were being asked to memorize into images, and distributing those images along familiar spatial85 journeys. They weren't doing this automatically, or because it was an inborn talent they'd nurtured since childhood. Rather, the unexpected patterns of neural activity that Maguire's fMRIs turned up were the result of training and practice
Question: The passage most strongly suggests that mental athletes are successful at memorization because they
 A. exploit parts of the brain not normally used in routine memorization.
 B. convert information they are trying to memorize into abstract symbols.
 C. organize information into numerical lists prior to memorization.
 D. exercise their brains regularly through puzzles and other mental challenges
Answer: A


Question:
We are told that it is not within the "province of woman," to discuss the subject of slavery; that it is a "political question," and we are "stepping out of our  sphere," when we take part in its discussion. It is nottrue that it is merely a political question, it is likewise a question of justice, of humanity, of morality, of religion; a question which, while it involves considerations of immense importance to the welfare and prosperity of our country, enters deeply into thehome-concerns, the every-day feelings of millions of our fellow beings. Whether the laborer shall receive the reward of his labor, or be driven daily to unrequited toil-whether he shall walk erect in the dignity of conscious manhood, or be reckonedamong the beasts which perish - whether his bones and sinews shall be his own, or another's-whether his child shall receive the protection of its natural guardian, or be ranked among the live-stock of the estate, to be disposed of as the caprice or interest ofthe master may dictate $\_\ldots$ these considerations are all involved in the question of liberty or slavery.And is a subject comprehending interests of such magnitude, merely a "political question," and one in which woman "can take no part without losingsomething of the modesty and gentleness which are her most appropriate ornaments"? May not the "ornament of a meek and quiet spirit" exist with an upright mind and enlightened intellect, and must woman necessarily be less gentle because her heart isopen to the claims of humanity, or less modest because she feels for the degradation of her enslaved sisters, and would stretch forth her hand for their rescue?By the Constitution of the United States, the  whole physical power of the North is pledged for the suppression of domestic insurrections, and should the slaves, maddened by oppression, endeavor to shake off the yoke of the taskmaster, the men of the North are bound to make common cause with the 40 tyrant, and put down, at the point of the bayonet, every effort on the part of the slave, for the attainment of his freedom. And when the father, husband, son, and brother shall have left their homes to mingle in the unholy warfare, "to become the 45 executioners of their brethren, or to fall themselves by their hands,"1 will the mother, wife, daughter, and sister feel that they have no interest in this subject? Will it be easy to convince them that it is no concern of theirs, that their homes are rendered desolate, and50 their habitations the abodes of wretchedness?Surely this consideration is of itself sufficient to arouse the slumbering energies of woman, for the overthrow of a system which thus threatens to lay in ruins the fabric of her domestic happiness; and she55 will not be deterred from the performance of her duty to herself, her family, and her country, by the cry of political question.But admitting it to be a political question, have we no interest in the welfare of our country? May we not60 permit a thought to stray beyond the narrow limits of our own family circle, and of the present hour? May we not breathe a sigh over the miseries of our countrymen, nor utter a word of remonstrance against the unjust laws that are crushing them to the 65 earth? Must we witness "the headlong rage or heedless folly," with which our nation is rushing onward to destruction, and not seek to arrest its downward course? Shall we silently behold the land which we love with all the heart-warm affection of70 children, rendered a hissing and a reproach throughout the world, by this system which is already tolling the death-bell of her decease among the nations? No: the events of the last two years have cast their dark shadows before, overclouding the bright75 prospects of the future, and shrouding the destinies of our country in more than midnight gloom, and we cannot remain inactive. Our country is as dear to us as to the proudest statesman, and the more closely our hearts cling to "our altars and our homes," the80 more fervent are our aspirations that every inhabitant of our land may be protected in his fireside enjoyments by just and equal laws; that the foot of the tyrant may no longer invade the domestic sanctuary, nor his hand tear asunder those whom85 God himself has united by the most holy ties. Let our course, then, still be onward!
Question: 1 A quotation from the Declaration of Independence Smith's main purpose in the passage is to
 A. accuse fellow abolitionists of overlooking the contributions that women have made to the movement.
 B. argue that the causes of abolition and women's rights are continuations of the spirit of the American Revolution.
 C. make the case that women's rights are meaningless while slavery exists.
 D. encourage women to see their participation in the abolitionist cause as just and important.
Answer:

Choices:
- A
- B
- C
- D

We are told that it is not within the "province of woman," to discuss the subject of slavery; that it is a "political question," and we are "stepping out of our  sphere," when we take part in its discussion. It is nottrue that it is merely a political question, it is likewise a question of justice, of humanity, of morality, of religion; a question which, while it involves considerations of immense importance to the welfare and prosperity of our country, enters deeply into thehome-concerns, the every-day feelings of millions of our fellow beings. Whether the laborer shall receive the reward of his labor, or be driven daily to unrequited toil-whether he shall walk erect in the dignity of conscious manhood, or be reckonedamong the beasts which perish - whether his bones and sinews shall be his own, or another's-whether his child shall receive the protection of its natural guardian, or be ranked among the live-stock of the estate, to be disposed of as the caprice or interest ofthe master may dictate $\_\ldots$ these considerations are all involved in the question of liberty or slavery.And is a subject comprehending interests of such magnitude, merely a "political question," and one in which woman "can take no part without losingsomething of the modesty and gentleness which are her most appropriate ornaments"? May not the "ornament of a meek and quiet spirit" exist with an upright mind and enlightened intellect, and must woman necessarily be less gentle because her heart isopen to the claims of humanity, or less modest because she feels for the degradation of her enslaved sisters, and would stretch forth her hand for their rescue?By the Constitution of the United States, the  whole physical power of the North is pledged for the suppression of domestic insurrections, and should the slaves, maddened by oppression, endeavor to shake off the yoke of the taskmaster, the men of the North are bound to make common cause with the 40 tyrant, and put down, at the point of the bayonet, every effort on the part of the slave, for the attainment of his freedom. And when the father, husband, son, and brother shall have left their homes to mingle in the unholy warfare, "to become the 45 executioners of their brethren, or to fall themselves by their hands,"1 will the mother, wife, daughter, and sister feel that they have no interest in this subject? Will it be easy to convince them that it is no concern of theirs, that their homes are rendered desolate, and50 their habitations the abodes of wretchedness?Surely this consideration is of itself sufficient to arouse the slumbering energies of woman, for the overthrow of a system which thus threatens to lay in ruins the fabric of her domestic happiness; and she55 will not be deterred from the performance of her duty to herself, her family, and her country, by the cry of political question.But admitting it to be a political question, have we no interest in the welfare of our country? May we not60 permit a thought to stray beyond the narrow limits of our own family circle, and of the present hour? May we not breathe a sigh over the miseries of our countrymen, nor utter a word of remonstrance against the unjust laws that are crushing them to the 65 earth? Must we witness "the headlong rage or heedless folly," with which our nation is rushing onward to destruction, and not seek to arrest its downward course? Shall we silently behold the land which we love with all the heart-warm affection of70 children, rendered a hissing and a reproach throughout the world, by this system which is already tolling the death-bell of her decease among the nations? No: the events of the last two years have cast their dark shadows before, overclouding the bright75 prospects of the future, and shrouding the destinies of our country in more than midnight gloom, and we cannot remain inactive. Our country is as dear to us as to the proudest statesman, and the more closely our hearts cling to "our altars and our homes," the80 more fervent are our aspirations that every inhabitant of our land may be protected in his fireside enjoyments by just and equal laws; that the foot of the tyrant may no longer invade the domestic sanctuary, nor his hand tear asunder those whom85 God himself has united by the most holy ties. Let our course, then, still be onward!
Question: 1 A quotation from the Declaration of Independence Smith's main purpose in the passage is to
 A. accuse fellow abolitionists of overlooking the contributions that women have made to the movement.
 B. argue that the causes of abolition and women's rights are continuations of the spirit of the American Revolution.
 C. make the case that women's rights are meaningless while slavery exists.
 D. encourage women to see their participation in the abolitionist cause as just and important.
Answer: D


Question:
Passage 1.At the 2007 American Geophysical Union’s.meeting in Acapulco, Mexico, some two dozen.scientists presented multiple studies arguing that a.comet or asteroid exploded above or on the northern.ice cap almost 13,000 years ago—showering debris.across the North American continent and causing.temperatures to plunge for the next millennium..The team argues that its idea explains multiple.observations: not only the climate cooling and the.disappearance of the Clovis hunters, but also the.near-simultaneous extinction of the continent’s large.mammals..Not all will be convinced. Several leading.hypotheses already explain each of these three events..A change in ocean circulation is generally thought to.have brought about the onset of the millennium-long.cooling, which is known as the Younger Dryas. This.cooling might, in turn, have caused the Clovis.hunters to disappear. And, if they had not previously.been killed by disease or hunted to extinction, the big.prehistoric beasts may also have been doomed by this.change in climate..The new evidence comes in the form of.geochemical analysis of sedimentary layers at 25.archaeological sites across North America—9 of.them Clovis. Certain features of the layers, say the.team, suggest that they contain debris formed by an.extraterrestrial impact. These include spherules of.glass and carbon, and amounts of the element.iridium said to be too high to have originated on.Earth. In addition, the rocks contain black layers of.carbonized material, which the team says are the.remains of wildfires that swept across the continent.after the impact..Passage 2.Proponents of the Younger Dryas impact.hypothesis have claimed various kinds of evidence.for the hypothesis, including deposits of the element.iridium (rare on Earth but abundant in meteorites),.microscopic diamonds (called nanodiamonds), and.magnetic particles in deposits at sites supposedly.dated to about 12,800 years ago. These claims were.sharply contested by some specialists in the relevant.fields, however, who either did not detect such.evidence or argued that the deposits had other causes.than a cosmic impact. For example, some say that.nanodiamonds are common in ordinary geological.formations, and that magnetic particles could come.from ordinary fires..Now comes what some researchers consider the.strongest attack yet on the Younger Dryas impact.hypothesis. In a paper published recently in the.Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences,a.team led by David Meltzer, an archaeologist at.Southern Methodist University, Dallas, in Texas,.looks at the dating of 29 different sites in the.Americas, Europe, and the Middle East in which.impact advocates have reported evidence for a.cosmic collision. They include sites in which.sophisticated stone projectiles called Clovis points,.used by some of the earliest Americans to hunt.mammals beginning about 13,000 years ago, have.been found. The team argues that when the quality.and accuracy of the dating—which was based on.radiocarbon and other techniques—is examined.closely, only three of the 29 sites actually fall within.the time frame of the Younger Dryas onset, about 12,800 years ago; the rest were probably either earlier.or later by hundreds (and in one case, thousands) of.years..“The supposed Younger Dryas impact fails on.both theoretical and empirical grounds,” says.Meltzer, who adds that the popular appeal of the.hypothesis is probably due to the way that it provides.“simple explanations for complex problems.” Thus,.“giant chunks of space debris clobbering the planet.and wiping out life on Earth has undeniably broad.appeal,” Meltzer says, whereas “no one in Hollywood.makes movies” about more nuanced explanations,.such as Clovis points disappearing because early.Americans turned to other forms of stone tool.technology as the large mammals they were hunting.went extinct as a result of the changing climate or.hunting pressure..But impact proponents appear unmoved by the.new study. “We still stand fully behind the [impact.hypothesis], which is based on more than a.confluence of dates,” says Richard Firestone, a.nuclear chemist at the Lawrence Berkeley National.Laboratory in California. “Radiocarbon dating is a.perilous process,” he contends, adding that the.presence of Clovis artifacts and mammoth bones just.under the claimed iridium, nanodiamond, and.magnetic sphere deposits is a more reliable indicator.that an extraterrestrial event was responsible for their.disappearance.
Question: Based on Passage 1, which hypothetical discovery would provide the most support for the impact hypothesis?
 A. An asteroid impact crater beneath the northern ice cap contains high levels of iridium and has been dated to well after the start of the Younger Dryas.
 B. Glass and carbon spherules appear at multiple points in the geologic record but never in conjunction with iridium deposits.
 C. Analysis of ice cores suggests that global temperatures started declining approximately 13,000 years before the onset of the Younger Dryas.
 D. High levels of osmium, which is rare on Earth but relatively common in asteroids, are observed in the geologic record from approximately 13,000 years ago.
Answer:

Choices:
- A
- B
- C
- D

Passage 1.At the 2007 American Geophysical Union’s.meeting in Acapulco, Mexico, some two dozen.scientists presented multiple studies arguing that a.comet or asteroid exploded above or on the northern.ice cap almost 13,000 years ago—showering debris.across the North American continent and causing.temperatures to plunge for the next millennium..The team argues that its idea explains multiple.observations: not only the climate cooling and the.disappearance of the Clovis hunters, but also the.near-simultaneous extinction of the continent’s large.mammals..Not all will be convinced. Several leading.hypotheses already explain each of these three events..A change in ocean circulation is generally thought to.have brought about the onset of the millennium-long.cooling, which is known as the Younger Dryas. This.cooling might, in turn, have caused the Clovis.hunters to disappear. And, if they had not previously.been killed by disease or hunted to extinction, the big.prehistoric beasts may also have been doomed by this.change in climate..The new evidence comes in the form of.geochemical analysis of sedimentary layers at 25.archaeological sites across North America—9 of.them Clovis. Certain features of the layers, say the.team, suggest that they contain debris formed by an.extraterrestrial impact. These include spherules of.glass and carbon, and amounts of the element.iridium said to be too high to have originated on.Earth. In addition, the rocks contain black layers of.carbonized material, which the team says are the.remains of wildfires that swept across the continent.after the impact..Passage 2.Proponents of the Younger Dryas impact.hypothesis have claimed various kinds of evidence.for the hypothesis, including deposits of the element.iridium (rare on Earth but abundant in meteorites),.microscopic diamonds (called nanodiamonds), and.magnetic particles in deposits at sites supposedly.dated to about 12,800 years ago. These claims were.sharply contested by some specialists in the relevant.fields, however, who either did not detect such.evidence or argued that the deposits had other causes.than a cosmic impact. For example, some say that.nanodiamonds are common in ordinary geological.formations, and that magnetic particles could come.from ordinary fires..Now comes what some researchers consider the.strongest attack yet on the Younger Dryas impact.hypothesis. In a paper published recently in the.Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences,a.team led by David Meltzer, an archaeologist at.Southern Methodist University, Dallas, in Texas,.looks at the dating of 29 different sites in the.Americas, Europe, and the Middle East in which.impact advocates have reported evidence for a.cosmic collision. They include sites in which.sophisticated stone projectiles called Clovis points,.used by some of the earliest Americans to hunt.mammals beginning about 13,000 years ago, have.been found. The team argues that when the quality.and accuracy of the dating—which was based on.radiocarbon and other techniques—is examined.closely, only three of the 29 sites actually fall within.the time frame of the Younger Dryas onset, about 12,800 years ago; the rest were probably either earlier.or later by hundreds (and in one case, thousands) of.years..“The supposed Younger Dryas impact fails on.both theoretical and empirical grounds,” says.Meltzer, who adds that the popular appeal of the.hypothesis is probably due to the way that it provides.“simple explanations for complex problems.” Thus,.“giant chunks of space debris clobbering the planet.and wiping out life on Earth has undeniably broad.appeal,” Meltzer says, whereas “no one in Hollywood.makes movies” about more nuanced explanations,.such as Clovis points disappearing because early.Americans turned to other forms of stone tool.technology as the large mammals they were hunting.went extinct as a result of the changing climate or.hunting pressure..But impact proponents appear unmoved by the.new study. “We still stand fully behind the [impact.hypothesis], which is based on more than a.confluence of dates,” says Richard Firestone, a.nuclear chemist at the Lawrence Berkeley National.Laboratory in California. “Radiocarbon dating is a.perilous process,” he contends, adding that the.presence of Clovis artifacts and mammoth bones just.under the claimed iridium, nanodiamond, and.magnetic sphere deposits is a more reliable indicator.that an extraterrestrial event was responsible for their.disappearance.
Question: Based on Passage 1, which hypothetical discovery would provide the most support for the impact hypothesis?
 A. An asteroid impact crater beneath the northern ice cap contains high levels of iridium and has been dated to well after the start of the Younger Dryas.
 B. Glass and carbon spherules appear at multiple points in the geologic record but never in conjunction with iridium deposits.
 C. Analysis of ice cores suggests that global temperatures started declining approximately 13,000 years before the onset of the Younger Dryas.
 D. High levels of osmium, which is rare on Earth but relatively common in asteroids, are observed in the geologic record from approximately 13,000 years ago.
Answer: D


Question:
A pair of recent studies suggests that although.industrialized nations may have benefitted from larger.cities, the same is not true for the rapidly urbanizing areas of.the developing world. In these parts of the globe, there really.might be such a thing as too much urbanization, too.quickly..The studies, by Susanne A. Frick and Andrés Rodríguez-.Pose of the London School of Economics, take a close look.at the actual connection between city size and nationwide.economic performance. Their initial study, from last year,.examines the relationship between economic development,.as measured by GDP per capita, and average metropolitan-.area size in 114 countries across the world between 1960.and 2010. To ensure robustness, it controls for variables.including national population size, physical land area,.education levels, economic openness, and other factors..The size of cities or metro areas across the world has.exploded over the past half-century, with cities in the.developing world growing much faster and much larger.than those in more developed nations. Between 1960 and 2010, the median city in high-income countries grew.modestly from 500,000 to 650,000 people; but the median.city in the developing world nearly quadrupled, expanding.from 220,000 to 845,000 people. In 1960, 12 of the top 20.countries with the largest average city size were high-.income countries; by 2010, 14 of the top 20 were in the.developing world..Urbanization has historically been thought of as a.necessary feature of economic development and growth, but.this study finds the connection is not so simple. While.advanced nations benefit from having larger cities,.developing nations do not. Advanced nations experience a 0.7 percent increase in economic growth for every.additional 100,000 in average population among its large.cities over a five-year period. But for developing nations, the.addition of 100,000 people in large cities is associated with a 2.3 percent decrease in economic growth over a five-year.period..In their latest study, the researchers found that.developing nations tend to get a bigger bang for their buck.from smaller and medium-size cities. These countries see.the most economic benefit from having a larger proportion.of their urban population living in cities of 500,000 people.or less. Bigger cities tend to have a more positive economic.impact in larger countries. Having a metro with more than 10 million inhabitants produces a nationwide economic.benefit only if the total urban population is 28.5 million.or more, according to the study. This makes sense:.Bigger, more developed countries are more likely to play.host to knowledge-based industries that require urban.agglomeration economies..There are several reasons why megacities^1 often fail to.spur significant growth in the rapidly urbanizing world..For one, the lion’s share of places that are urbanizing.most rapidly today are in the poorest and least-.developed parts of the world, whereas the places that.urbanized a century or so ago were in the richest and.most developed. This history has created a false.expectation that urbanization is always associated with.prosperity..Additionally, globalization has severed the historical.connection between cities, local agriculture, and local.industry that powered the more balanced urban.economic development of the past. In today’s globally.interconnected economy, the raw materials that flowed.from the surrounding countryside to the city can all be.inexpensively imported from other parts of the world..The result is that the connection between large cities and.growth has now become much more tenuous, producing.a troubling new pattern of “urbanization without.growth.”.The researchers used multiple variables to calculate a weighted average.city size for each country studied and reported the median of those.averages..(^1) Typically defined as cities with populations of over ten million people
Question: According to the graph, during what range of yearsdid the median city population size in developingcountries initially surpass that of high-incomecountries?
 A. 1965–1970
 B. 1980–1985
 C. 1990–1995
 D. 2005–2010
Answer:

Choices:
- A
- B
- C
- D

A pair of recent studies suggests that although.industrialized nations may have benefitted from larger.cities, the same is not true for the rapidly urbanizing areas of.the developing world. In these parts of the globe, there really.might be such a thing as too much urbanization, too.quickly..The studies, by Susanne A. Frick and Andrés Rodríguez-.Pose of the London School of Economics, take a close look.at the actual connection between city size and nationwide.economic performance. Their initial study, from last year,.examines the relationship between economic development,.as measured by GDP per capita, and average metropolitan-.area size in 114 countries across the world between 1960.and 2010. To ensure robustness, it controls for variables.including national population size, physical land area,.education levels, economic openness, and other factors..The size of cities or metro areas across the world has.exploded over the past half-century, with cities in the.developing world growing much faster and much larger.than those in more developed nations. Between 1960 and 2010, the median city in high-income countries grew.modestly from 500,000 to 650,000 people; but the median.city in the developing world nearly quadrupled, expanding.from 220,000 to 845,000 people. In 1960, 12 of the top 20.countries with the largest average city size were high-.income countries; by 2010, 14 of the top 20 were in the.developing world..Urbanization has historically been thought of as a.necessary feature of economic development and growth, but.this study finds the connection is not so simple. While.advanced nations benefit from having larger cities,.developing nations do not. Advanced nations experience a 0.7 percent increase in economic growth for every.additional 100,000 in average population among its large.cities over a five-year period. But for developing nations, the.addition of 100,000 people in large cities is associated with a 2.3 percent decrease in economic growth over a five-year.period..In their latest study, the researchers found that.developing nations tend to get a bigger bang for their buck.from smaller and medium-size cities. These countries see.the most economic benefit from having a larger proportion.of their urban population living in cities of 500,000 people.or less. Bigger cities tend to have a more positive economic.impact in larger countries. Having a metro with more than 10 million inhabitants produces a nationwide economic.benefit only if the total urban population is 28.5 million.or more, according to the study. This makes sense:.Bigger, more developed countries are more likely to play.host to knowledge-based industries that require urban.agglomeration economies..There are several reasons why megacities^1 often fail to.spur significant growth in the rapidly urbanizing world..For one, the lion’s share of places that are urbanizing.most rapidly today are in the poorest and least-.developed parts of the world, whereas the places that.urbanized a century or so ago were in the richest and.most developed. This history has created a false.expectation that urbanization is always associated with.prosperity..Additionally, globalization has severed the historical.connection between cities, local agriculture, and local.industry that powered the more balanced urban.economic development of the past. In today’s globally.interconnected economy, the raw materials that flowed.from the surrounding countryside to the city can all be.inexpensively imported from other parts of the world..The result is that the connection between large cities and.growth has now become much more tenuous, producing.a troubling new pattern of “urbanization without.growth.”.The researchers used multiple variables to calculate a weighted average.city size for each country studied and reported the median of those.averages..(^1) Typically defined as cities with populations of over ten million people
Question: According to the graph, during what range of yearsdid the median city population size in developingcountries initially surpass that of high-incomecountries?
 A. 1965–1970
 B. 1980–1985
 C. 1990–1995
 D. 2005–2010
Answer: C


Question:
Passage 1.After years of hard work by conservationists.throughout Asia, a new study brings good news for.the world’s wild tigers. According to a new report by.the World Wildlife Fund (WWF), the number of.tigers living in the wild may have been slowly rising.over the last several years. If continued surveys prove.this to be true, this would mark the first time in more.than a century that tiger populations have grown..In a study compiling surveys taken across Asia,.researchers at the WWF found that there are at least 3,890 tigers living in the wild today—a considerable.increase from the 3,200 recorded in 2010. The study.suggests that the commitment to and success of.conservation programs in some countries have.contributed to the overall growth of the global tiger.population..“It’s a positive trend,” Ginette Hemley, the WWF’s.senior vice president of wildlife conservation, says..“We’re cautiously hopeful.”.Counting wild tigers, however, isn’t easy. While.tens of thousands of tigers once roamed Asia from.Turkey to Indonesia, their habitats have become tiny.and scattered during the last century. Wild tigers are.notoriously elusive, preferring to hide out in hard-to-.reach places in jungle undergrowth and high.mountains..Combined with their low numbers, these factors.can make them difficult to keep track of, which can.leave some uncertainty as to whether the populations.are truly on the rise. The increased numbers may in.part reflect better surveying methods..Additionally, while the global number of wild.tigers appears to have gone up, a country-by-country.analysis is more sobering. Though several countries.including India, Nepal, Bhutan and Russia may have.gone up in recent years, others have seen tigers.disappear thanks to poaching and habitat loss..Passage 2.Photographic capture-recapture and large-scale.occupancy modeling are now used to estimate tiger.numbers and range in several countries across Asia..(Scientists who study other elusive carnivores with.unique body markings, including African wild dogs.and wolverines, are also employing these approaches.).Yet on the whole, although the science of tiger.population assessment has rapidly progressed, its.adoption by governmental and nongovernmental.conservation agencies has not, whether because of a.lack of understanding of or comfort with the new.methods or because the old methods cast a more.flattering light on their efforts..A recent example illustrates just how insidious.reliance on outdated tools is. In April the WWF and.the Global Tiger Forum announced to great fanfare.that the planet’s wild tiger population was at last on.the rise, numbering 3,890 individuals. These groups.aim to increase the number of tigers to 6,000 by 2022..But their tally, based on official estimates, relied on.flawed methodologies, including the use of.statistically weak extrapolations from tiger.photographs and field counts of spoor.^1 And their.goal for population growth far exceeds what one.would expect to realize on the basis of studies carried.out using more rigorous techniques. Furthermore,.apart from the increases in tigers in a few reserves in.India and parts of Thailand, there are no convincing.data to show that populations are recovering in the.rest of Southeast Asia or Russia. Indeed, countries.such as Cambodia, Vietnam and China have lost their.viable tiger populations in recent years—losses.masked by any single global tiger number..Speculative tiger numbers for countries and.regions undermine efforts to save tigers by distracting.conservationists and the public from what should be.our top priority: guarding and growing the source.populations.^2 In a way, the overall number of wild.tigers, if we could even get an accurate count, may not.matter. The source populations are the ones we need.to monitor vigilantly, using the best science available.to track their numbers. Only with reliable counts can.we set realistic goals for future growth, develop.suitable strategies for meeting those goals and.measure the impact of our conservation efforts..(^1) Animal droppings.(^2) Animals located in areas with suitable conditions for reproduction.to take place.History shows that scientific progress can stall.from lack of understanding, institutional inertia and.political considerations for decades or even centuries..But as the world enters into the sixth mass extinction.of wild species, we simply cannot afford to divorce.conservation practices from sound science if we are to.have any hope of saving a wildlife icon like the.majestic tiger.
Question: It can reasonably be inferred from the passages that their authors would both agree that wild tiger population sizes are
 A. recovering more fully in certain countries than in others.
 B. beginning to return to the levels recorded in 2010.
 C. responding predictably to aggressive conservation attempts.
 D. declining steadily despite continual human intervention.
Answer:

Choices:
- A
- B
- C
- D

Passage 1.After years of hard work by conservationists.throughout Asia, a new study brings good news for.the world’s wild tigers. According to a new report by.the World Wildlife Fund (WWF), the number of.tigers living in the wild may have been slowly rising.over the last several years. If continued surveys prove.this to be true, this would mark the first time in more.than a century that tiger populations have grown..In a study compiling surveys taken across Asia,.researchers at the WWF found that there are at least 3,890 tigers living in the wild today—a considerable.increase from the 3,200 recorded in 2010. The study.suggests that the commitment to and success of.conservation programs in some countries have.contributed to the overall growth of the global tiger.population..“It’s a positive trend,” Ginette Hemley, the WWF’s.senior vice president of wildlife conservation, says..“We’re cautiously hopeful.”.Counting wild tigers, however, isn’t easy. While.tens of thousands of tigers once roamed Asia from.Turkey to Indonesia, their habitats have become tiny.and scattered during the last century. Wild tigers are.notoriously elusive, preferring to hide out in hard-to-.reach places in jungle undergrowth and high.mountains..Combined with their low numbers, these factors.can make them difficult to keep track of, which can.leave some uncertainty as to whether the populations.are truly on the rise. The increased numbers may in.part reflect better surveying methods..Additionally, while the global number of wild.tigers appears to have gone up, a country-by-country.analysis is more sobering. Though several countries.including India, Nepal, Bhutan and Russia may have.gone up in recent years, others have seen tigers.disappear thanks to poaching and habitat loss..Passage 2.Photographic capture-recapture and large-scale.occupancy modeling are now used to estimate tiger.numbers and range in several countries across Asia..(Scientists who study other elusive carnivores with.unique body markings, including African wild dogs.and wolverines, are also employing these approaches.).Yet on the whole, although the science of tiger.population assessment has rapidly progressed, its.adoption by governmental and nongovernmental.conservation agencies has not, whether because of a.lack of understanding of or comfort with the new.methods or because the old methods cast a more.flattering light on their efforts..A recent example illustrates just how insidious.reliance on outdated tools is. In April the WWF and.the Global Tiger Forum announced to great fanfare.that the planet’s wild tiger population was at last on.the rise, numbering 3,890 individuals. These groups.aim to increase the number of tigers to 6,000 by 2022..But their tally, based on official estimates, relied on.flawed methodologies, including the use of.statistically weak extrapolations from tiger.photographs and field counts of spoor.^1 And their.goal for population growth far exceeds what one.would expect to realize on the basis of studies carried.out using more rigorous techniques. Furthermore,.apart from the increases in tigers in a few reserves in.India and parts of Thailand, there are no convincing.data to show that populations are recovering in the.rest of Southeast Asia or Russia. Indeed, countries.such as Cambodia, Vietnam and China have lost their.viable tiger populations in recent years—losses.masked by any single global tiger number..Speculative tiger numbers for countries and.regions undermine efforts to save tigers by distracting.conservationists and the public from what should be.our top priority: guarding and growing the source.populations.^2 In a way, the overall number of wild.tigers, if we could even get an accurate count, may not.matter. The source populations are the ones we need.to monitor vigilantly, using the best science available.to track their numbers. Only with reliable counts can.we set realistic goals for future growth, develop.suitable strategies for meeting those goals and.measure the impact of our conservation efforts..(^1) Animal droppings.(^2) Animals located in areas with suitable conditions for reproduction.to take place.History shows that scientific progress can stall.from lack of understanding, institutional inertia and.political considerations for decades or even centuries..But as the world enters into the sixth mass extinction.of wild species, we simply cannot afford to divorce.conservation practices from sound science if we are to.have any hope of saving a wildlife icon like the.majestic tiger.
Question: It can reasonably be inferred from the passages that their authors would both agree that wild tiger population sizes are
 A. recovering more fully in certain countries than in others.
 B. beginning to return to the levels recorded in 2010.
 C. responding predictably to aggressive conservation attempts.
 D. declining steadily despite continual human intervention.
Answer: A


Question:
Unlike the gold which needed nothing, and must be worshipped in close-locked solitude - which was hidden away from the daylight, was deaf to the song  of birds, and started to no human tones-Eppie was a 5 creature of endless claims and ever-growing desires, seeking and loving sunshine, and living sounds, and living movements; making trial of everything, with trust in new joy, and stirring the human kindness in all eyes that looked on her. The gold had kept his10 thoughts in an ever-repeated circle, leading to nothing beyond itself; but Eppie was an object compacted of changes and hopes that forced his thoughts onward, and carried them far away from their old eager pacing towards the same blank15 limit-carried them away to the new things that would come with the coming years, when Eppie would have learned to understand how her father Silas cared for her; and made him look for images of that time in the ties and charities that bound together 20 the families of his neighbors. The gold had asked that he should sit weaving longer and longer, deafened and blinded more and more to all things except the monotony of his loom and the repetition of his web; but Eppie called him away from his weaving, and25 made him think all its pauses a holiday, reawakening his senses with her fresh life, even to the old winter-flies that came crawling forth in the early spring sunshine, and warming him into joy because she had joy.30 And when the sunshine grew strong and lasting, so that the buttercups were thick in the meadows, Silas might be seen in the sunny mid-day, or in the late afternoon when the shadows were lengthening under the hedgerows, strolling out with uncovered35 head to carry Eppie beyond the Stone-pits to where the flowers grew, till they reached some favorite bank where he could sit down, while Eppie toddled to pluck the flowers, and make remarks to the winged things that murmured happily above the bright40 petals, calling "Dad-dad's" attention continually by bringing him the flowers. Then she would turn her ear to some sudden bird-note, and Silas learned to please her by making signs of hushed stillness, that they might listen for the note to come again: so that45 when it came, she set up her small back and laughed with gurgling triumph. Sitting on the banks in this way, Silas began to look for the once familiar herbs again; and as the leaves, with their unchanged outline and markings, lay on his palm, there was a sense of 50 crowding remembrances from which he turned away timidly, taking refuge in Eppie's little world, that lay lightly on his enfeebled spirit. As the child's mind was growing into knowledge, his mind was growing into memory: as her lifeunfolded, his soul, long stupefied in a cold narrow prison, was unfolding too, and trembling gradually into full consciousness.It was an influence which must gather force with every new year: the tones that stirred Silas' heart60 grew articulate, and called for more distinct answers; shapes and sounds grew clearer for Eppie's eyes and ears, and there was more that "Dad-dad" was imperatively required to notice and account for. Also, by the time Eppie was three years old, she65 developed a fine capacity for mischief, and for devising ingenious ways of being troublesome, which found much exercise, not only for Silas' patience, but for his watchfulness and penetration. Sorely was poor Silas puzzled on such occasions by the incompatible 70 demands of love.
Question: Which statement best describes a technique the narrator uses to represent Silas's character before he adopted Eppie?
 A. The narrator emphasizes Silas's former obsession with wealth by depicting his gold as requiring certain behaviors on his part.
 B. The narrator underscores Silas's former greed by describing his gold as seeming to reproduce on its own.
 C. The narrator hints at Silas's former antisocial attitude by contrasting his present behavior toward his neighbors with his past behavior toward them.
 D. The narrator demonstrates Silas's former lack of self-awareness by implying that he is unable to recall life before Eppie.
Answer:

Choices:
- A
- B
- C
- D

Unlike the gold which needed nothing, and must be worshipped in close-locked solitude - which was hidden away from the daylight, was deaf to the song  of birds, and started to no human tones-Eppie was a 5 creature of endless claims and ever-growing desires, seeking and loving sunshine, and living sounds, and living movements; making trial of everything, with trust in new joy, and stirring the human kindness in all eyes that looked on her. The gold had kept his10 thoughts in an ever-repeated circle, leading to nothing beyond itself; but Eppie was an object compacted of changes and hopes that forced his thoughts onward, and carried them far away from their old eager pacing towards the same blank15 limit-carried them away to the new things that would come with the coming years, when Eppie would have learned to understand how her father Silas cared for her; and made him look for images of that time in the ties and charities that bound together 20 the families of his neighbors. The gold had asked that he should sit weaving longer and longer, deafened and blinded more and more to all things except the monotony of his loom and the repetition of his web; but Eppie called him away from his weaving, and25 made him think all its pauses a holiday, reawakening his senses with her fresh life, even to the old winter-flies that came crawling forth in the early spring sunshine, and warming him into joy because she had joy.30 And when the sunshine grew strong and lasting, so that the buttercups were thick in the meadows, Silas might be seen in the sunny mid-day, or in the late afternoon when the shadows were lengthening under the hedgerows, strolling out with uncovered35 head to carry Eppie beyond the Stone-pits to where the flowers grew, till they reached some favorite bank where he could sit down, while Eppie toddled to pluck the flowers, and make remarks to the winged things that murmured happily above the bright40 petals, calling "Dad-dad's" attention continually by bringing him the flowers. Then she would turn her ear to some sudden bird-note, and Silas learned to please her by making signs of hushed stillness, that they might listen for the note to come again: so that45 when it came, she set up her small back and laughed with gurgling triumph. Sitting on the banks in this way, Silas began to look for the once familiar herbs again; and as the leaves, with their unchanged outline and markings, lay on his palm, there was a sense of 50 crowding remembrances from which he turned away timidly, taking refuge in Eppie's little world, that lay lightly on his enfeebled spirit. As the child's mind was growing into knowledge, his mind was growing into memory: as her lifeunfolded, his soul, long stupefied in a cold narrow prison, was unfolding too, and trembling gradually into full consciousness.It was an influence which must gather force with every new year: the tones that stirred Silas' heart60 grew articulate, and called for more distinct answers; shapes and sounds grew clearer for Eppie's eyes and ears, and there was more that "Dad-dad" was imperatively required to notice and account for. Also, by the time Eppie was three years old, she65 developed a fine capacity for mischief, and for devising ingenious ways of being troublesome, which found much exercise, not only for Silas' patience, but for his watchfulness and penetration. Sorely was poor Silas puzzled on such occasions by the incompatible 70 demands of love.
Question: Which statement best describes a technique the narrator uses to represent Silas's character before he adopted Eppie?
 A. The narrator emphasizes Silas's former obsession with wealth by depicting his gold as requiring certain behaviors on his part.
 B. The narrator underscores Silas's former greed by describing his gold as seeming to reproduce on its own.
 C. The narrator hints at Silas's former antisocial attitude by contrasting his present behavior toward his neighbors with his past behavior toward them.
 D. The narrator demonstrates Silas's former lack of self-awareness by implying that he is unable to recall life before Eppie.
Answer: A