Lilly loves her town. She loves
the mall. She loves the parks. She also loves her school. Most of all, though,
Lilly loves the seasons. In her old town, it was hot all of the time.
Sometimes it is cold in Lilly’s
new town. The cold season is in winter. Once in a while it snows. Lilly has
never seen snow before. So far her, the snow is exciting as well as very
beautiful. Lilly has to wear gloves to keep her hands warm. She also wear a
scarf around her neck.
In spring, flowers bloom and the
trees turn green with new leaves. Pollen falls on the cars and windowsills and
makes Lilly sneeze. People work in their yards and mow their grass.
In summer, Lilly wears her old
shorts and sandals- the same ones she used to wear in her old town. It is hot
outside, and dogs lie in the shade. Lilly and her friends go to a pool or play
in the water sprinkler. Her father cooks hamburgers on the grill for dinner.
Lilly’s favorite season is autumn.
In autumn, the leaves on the trees turn yellow, gold, red, and orange.
Halloween comes in autumn, and this Lilly’s favorite holiday. Every Halloween,
Lilly wears a costume. Last year she wore a mouse costume. This year she will
wear a fish costume.
One evening in autumn, Lilly and
her mom are on sitting together on the porch. Mom tells Lilly that autumn is
also called “fall”. This is a good idea, Lilly thinks, because in the fall all
of the leaves fall down from the trees.
Based on information in paragraph
5, which of the following costumes is Lilly most likely to wear next year?
But I do recommend some game as a part of
recreation. As long as I could see to play and sufficient tennis, I enjoyed
immensely the game of real or court skill, a very ancient game, requiring activates
as well as some pride, because for the first time, at any rate in the recent
history of the game, an amateur is champion of the sometimes criticized for
paying too much attention to games. Football is a national game of America as
well as in England but I do not suppose that either you or we think that our soldiers
fought any worse in the war of having been fond of football. I put games definitely
as a desirable part of recreation, and I would say: have one or more games of
which you are fond, but let them have any rate in youth be activity of the
whole body, as well as skill,
Sport shall be mentioned next. I have had a
liking for more than one form of sport, but an actual passion for salmon and
trout fishing. Salmon fishing, as I have enjoyed it, fishing not from a boat
but from one’s feet, either on the bank or wading deep in the stream, is a
glorious and sustained exercise for the whole body, as well as being an
exciting-sport; but many of my friends do not care for it. To them, I say, as
one who was fond of George Meredith’s Novels once said to be man who complained
that he should not read them, ‘why should you?’ if you do not care for fishing,
do not fish. Why should you? But if we are to be one equal term and you are be
one the same happy level as I hav3e been, then find something for yourself
which you like as much as I like fishing.
Football is a national game in:
First introduced in 1927, The Hardy
Boys Mystery Stories are a series of books about the adventures of brothers
Frank and Joe Hardy, teenaged detectives who solve one baffling mystery after
another. The Hardy Boys were so popular among young boys that in 1930 a similar
series was created for girls featuring a sixteen-year-old detective named Nancy
Drew. The cover of each volume of The Hardy Boys states that he author of the
series is Franklin W. Dixon; the Nancy Drew Mystery Stories are supposedly
written by Carolyn Keene. Over the years, though, many fans of both series have
been surprised to find out that Franklin W. Dixon and Carolyn Keene are not
real people. If Franklin W. Dixon and Carolyn Keene never existed, then who
wrote The Hardy Boys and Nancy Drew mysteries?
The Hardy Boys and the Nancy Drew
books were written through a process called ghostwriting. A ghostwriter writes
a book according to a specific formula. While ghostwriters are paid for writing
the books, their authorship is not acknowledged, and their names do not appear
on the published books. Ghostwriters can write books for children or adults,
the content of which is unspecific. Sometimes they work on book series with a
lot of individual titles, such as The Hardy Boys and the Nancy Drew series.
The initial idea for both The Hardy
Boys and the Nancy Drew series was developed by a man named Edward Stratemeyer,
who owned a publishing company that specialized in children’s book.
Stratemeyer noticed the increasing
popularity of mysteries among adult, and surmised that children would enjoy
reading mysteries about younger detectives with whom they could identify.
Stratemeyer first developed each book with an outline describing the plot and
setting. Once he completed the outline, Stratemeyer then hired a ghostwriter to
convert it into a book of slightly over 200 pages. After the ghostwriter had
written a draft of a book, he or she would send it back to Stratemeyer, who
would make a list of corrections and mail it back to the ghostwriter. The
ghostwriter would revise the book according to Stratemeyer’s instructions and
then return it to him. Once Stratemeyer approved the book, it was ready for
publication.
Because each series ran for so many
years, Nancy Drew and The Hardy Boys both had a number of different
ghostwriters producing books; however, the first ghostwrites for each series proved
to be the most influential. The initial ghostwriter for The Hardy Boys was a
Canadian journalist named Leslie McFarlane. A few years later, Mildred A. Wirt,
a young writer from lowa, began writing the Nancy Drew books. Although they
were using prepared outlines as guides, both McFarlane and Wirt developed the
characters themselves. The personalities of Frank and Joe Hardy and Nancy arose
directly from McFarlane’s and wirt’s imaginations. For example, Mildred Wirt
had been a star college athelete and gave Nancy similar athletic abilities. The
ghostwriters were also responsible for numerous plot and setting details.
Leslie McFarlane used elements of his small C fictional hometown.
Although The Hardy Boys and Nancy
Drew books were very popular with children, not everyone approved of them.
Critics thought their plots were unrealistic and even far-fetched, since most
teenagers did not experience the adventures Frank and Joe Hardy or Nancy Drew
did. The way the books were written also attracted criticism. Many teachers and
librarians objected to the ghostwriting process, claiming it was designed to
produce books quickly rather than create quality literature. Some libraries –
including the New York Public Library – even refused to include the books in
their children’s collections. Ironically, this decision actually helped sales
of his books, because children simply purchased them when they were unavailable
in local libraries.
Regardless of the debates about
their literary merit, each series of books has exerted an undeniable influence
on American and even global culture. Most Americans have never heard of Edward
Stratemeyer, Leslie McFarlane, or Mildred wirt, but people throughout the world
are familiar with Nancy Drew and Frank and Joe Hardy.
As used in paragraph 3, which is the
best definition for surmised?
Paul’s wife knows Paul loves to read cookbooks. She decides to
get him one for his birthday. Paul tells her he will try to make a new recipe
for three days in a row. On Monday, Paul makes blueberry pancakes for
breakfast. He gets the blueberries from the farmers’ market. On Tuesday, Paul
makes beef soup for dinner. He puts in cubes of beef, carrots, and onions. The
recipe calls for cream, but Paul does not cream. He uses water instead. On Wednesday,
Paul makes a tomato salad with cucumbers and onions. He picks the cucumbers and
tomatoes from his garden. He likes this dish best. It was also the easiest for
him to make.
What does Paul get cucumbers and tomatoes?
Recent advances in science and technology have made it
possible for geneticists to find out abnormalities in the unborn foetus and
take remedial action to rectify some defects which would otherwise prove to be
fatal to the child. Though genetic engineering is still at its infancy,
scientists can now predict with greater accuracy a genetic disorder. It is not
yet an exact science since they are not in a position to predict when exactly a
genetic disorder will set in. While they have not yet been able to change the
genetic order of the gene in germs, they are optimistic and are holding out
that in the near future they might be successful in achieving this feat. They
have, however, acquired the ability in manipulating tissue cells. However,
genetic mis-information can sometimes be damaging for it may adversely affect
people psychologically. Genetic information may lead to a tendency to brand
some people as inferiors. Genetic information can therefore be abused and its
application in deciding the sex of the foetus and its subsequent abortion is
now hotly debated on ethical lines. But on this issue geneticists cannot be
squarely blamed though this charge has often been leveled at them. It is mainly
a societal problem. At present genetic engineering is a costly process of
detecting disorders but scientists hope to reduce the costs when technology
becomes more advanced. This is why much progress in this area has been possible
in scientifically advanced and rich countries like the U.S.A., U.K. and Japan.
It remains to be seen if in the future this science will lead to the
development of a race of supermen or will be able to obliterate disease from
this world.
According to the author,
the present state of knowledge about heredity has mad geneticists
Arrowheads, which are ancient
hunting tools, are often themselves ‘hunted’ for their interesting value both
as artifacts and as art. Some of the oldest arrowheads in the United States
date back 12,000 years. They are not very difficult to find. You need only to
walk with downcast eyes in a field that has been recently tilled for the spring
planting season, and you might find one.
Arrowheads are tiny stones or pieces
of wood, bone, or metal which have been sharpened in order to create a tipped
weapon used in hunting. The material is honed to an edge, usually in a
triangular fashion, and is brought to a deadly tip. On the edge opposite the
tip is a flared tail. Though designs vary depending on the region, purpose, and
era of the arrowhead’s origin, the tails serve the same purpose. The tail of
the arrowhead is meant to be strapped onto a shaft, which is a straight wooden
piece such as a spear or an arrow. When combined, the arrowhead point and the
shaft become a lethal projectile weapon to be thrown by arm or shot with a bow
at prey.
Indian arrowheads are important
artifacts that give archeologists (scientists who study past human societies)
clues about the lives of Native Americans. By analyzing an arrowhead’s shape,
they can determine the advancement of tool technologies among certain Native
American groups. By determining the origin of the arrowhead material (bone,
rock, wood, or metal), they can trace the patterns of travel and trade of the
hunters. By examine the location of the arrowheads, archeologists can map out
hunting grounds and other social patterns.
Arrowheads are commonly found
along riverbanks or near creek beds because animals drawn to natural water sources
to sustain life were regularly found drinking along the banks. For this reason,
riverbeds were a prime hunting ground for the Native Americans. Now, dry and
active riverbeds are prime hunting grounds for arrowhead collectors.
Indian arrowheads are tiny pieces
of history that fit in the palm of your hand. They are diary entries in the
life of a hunter. They are museum pieces that hide in the dirt. They are
symbolic of the eternal struggle between life and death.
In the final
paragraph, the author writes, “They are museum pieces symbolic of the eternal
struggle between life and death.” Which of the following is the best way to
combine these two sentences, while keeping their original meaning?
Fleas are perfectly designed by
nature to feast on anything containing blood. Like a shark in the water or a
wolf in the woods, fleas are ideally equipped to do what they do, making them
very difficult to defeat. The bodies of these tiny parasites are extremely
hardy and well-suited for their job.
A flea has a very hard exoskeleton,
which means the body is covered by a tough, tile-like plate called a sclerite.
Because of these plates, fleas are almost impossible to squish. The
exoskeletons of fleas are also waterproof of fleas are also waterproof and shock
resistant, and therefore fleas are highly resistant to the sprays and chemicals
used to kill them.
Little spines are attached to his
plate. The spine the flea scurries through an animal’s fur in – search of
grooming pet tries to pull a flea off through the hair coat, these spines will
extend and stick to the fur like Velcro.
Fleas are some of the best jumpers
in the natural world. A flea can jump seven inches, or 150 times its own
length, either vertically or horizontally. An equivalent jump for a person
would be 555 feet, the height of the Washington Monument. Fleas can jump 30,000
times in a row without stopping, and they are able to accelerate through the
air at an incredibly high rate – a rate which is over ten times what humans can
withstand in an airplane.
Fleas have very long rear legs with
huge thigh muscles and multiple joints. When they get ready to jump. They fold their
long legs up and crouch like a runner on a staring block. Several of their
joints contain a protein called resilin, which helps catapult fleas into the
air as they jump, similar to the way a rubber band provides momentum to a
slingshot. Outward facing claws on the bottom of their legs grip anything they
touch when they land.
The adult female flea mates after
her first blood meal and begins producing eggs in just 1 to 2 days. One flea
can lay up to 50 eggs in one day and over 2,000 in her lifetime. Flea eggs can
be seen with the naked eye, but they are about the size of a grain of salt. Shortly
after being laid, the eggs begin to transform into cocoons. In the cocoon
state, fleas are fully developed adults, and will hatch immediately if
conditions are favorable. Fleas can detect warmth, movement, and carbon dioxide
in exhaled breath, and these three factors stimulate them to emerge as new
adults. If the flea does not detect appropriate conditions, it can remain
dormant in the cocoon state for extended periods. Under ideal conditions, the
entire life cycle may only take 3 weeks, so in no time at all, pets and homes
can become infested.
Because of these characteristics,
fleas are intimidating opponents. The best way to control fleas, therefore, is
to take steps to prevent an infestation from ever occurring.
According to the passage, fleas are
able to jump
I with a high rate of acceleration
II up and down and from side to side
III because the blood they eat
contains resilin
Recent advances in science and technology have made it
possible for geneticists to find out abnormalities in the unborn foetus and
take remedial action to rectify some defects which would otherwise prove to be
fatal to the child. Though genetic engineering is still at its infancy,
scientists can now predict with greater accuracy a genetic disorder. It is not
yet an exact science since they are not in a position to predict when exactly a
genetic disorder will set in. While they have not yet been able to change the
genetic order of the gene in germs, they are optimistic and are holding out
that in the near future they might be successful in achieving this feat. They
have, however, acquired the ability in manipulating tissue cells. However,
genetic mis-information can sometimes be damaging for it may adversely affect
people psychologically. Genetic information may lead to a tendency to brand
some people as inferiors. Genetic information can therefore be abused and its
application in deciding the sex of the foetus and its subsequent abortion is
now hotly debated on ethical lines. But on this issue geneticists cannot be
squarely blamed though this charge has often been leveled at them. It is mainly
a societal problem. At present genetic engineering is a costly process of
detecting disorders but scientists hope to reduce the costs when technology
becomes more advanced. This is why much progress in this area has been possible
in scientifically advanced and rich countries like the U.S.A., U.K. and Japan.
It remains to be seen if in the future this science will lead to the
development of a race of supermen or will be able to obliterate disease from
this world.
Which of the following is not true, according to the
passage?
On January 3, 1961, nine days after
Christmas, Richard Legg, John Byrnes, and Richard McKinley were killed in a
remote desert in eastern Idaho. Their deaths occurred when a nuclear reactor
exploded at a top-secret base in the National Reactor Testing Station (NRTS).
Official reports state that the explosion and subsequent reactor meltdown
resulted from the improper retraction of the control rod. When questioned about
the events that occurred there, officials were very reticent. The whole affair,
in fact, was discussed much, and seemed to disappear with time.
In order to grasp the mysterious
nature of the NRTS catastrophe, it help to know a bit about how nuclear
reactors work. After all, the generation of nuclear energy may strike many as
an esoteric process. However, given its relative simplicity, the way in which
the NRTS reactor functions is widely comprehensible. In this particular kind of
reactor, a cluster of nine-ton uranium fuel rods are positioned lengthwise
around a central control rod. The reaction begins with the slow removal of the
control ro, which starts a controlled nuclear reaction and begins to heat the
water in the reactor. This heat generates steam, which builds pressure inside
the tank. As pressure builds, the steam looks for a place to escape. The only
place this steam is able to escape is through the turbine. As it passes through
the turbine on its way out of the tank, it turns the giant fan blades and
produces energy.
On the morning of January 3, after
the machine had been shut down for the holidays, the three men arrived at the
station to restart the reactor. The control rod needed to be pulled out only
four inches to be reconnected to the automated driver. However, records
indicate that Byrnes yanked it out 23 inches, over five times the distance
necessary. In milliseconds the reactor exploded. Legg was impaled on the
ceiling; he would be discovered last. It took one week and a lead-shielded
crane to remove his body. Even in full protective gear, workers were only able
to work a minute at a time. The three men are buried in lead-lined coffins
under concrete in New York, Michigan, and Arlington Cemetery, Virginia.
The investigation took nearly two
years to complete. Did Byrnes have a dark motive? Or was it simply an accident?
Did he know how precarious the procedure was? Other operators were questioned
as to whether they knew the consequences of pulling the control rod out so far.
They responded “Of course! We often talked about what we would do if we were at
a radar station and the Russians came.
“We’d yank it out.”
Official reports are oddly
ambiguous, but what they do not explain, gossip does. Rumors had it that there
was tension between the men because Byrnes suspected the other two of being
involved with his young wife. There is little doubt than he, like the other
operators, knew exactly what would happen when he yanked the control rod.
Based on information in the final
paragraph, which of the following statements would the author likely agree with?
