Test practice 6 Flashcards
Disproving the common misconception of Native art as ______blank, the painters whose work appears in the collection at the National Museum of the American Indian employ a range of styles. There are artists working in the traditional arts of their specific tribal communities, artists working in European modernist or American abstract expressionist art traditions, and artists blending various traditions into something wholly new.
Question 2 Answers
Prompt for question2
Which choice completes the text with the most logical and precise word or phrase?
A.
uncontroversial
B.
individualistic
C.
theoretical
D.
homogeneous
D.
homogeneous
Many literary theorists distinguish between fabula, a narrative’s content, and syuzhet, a narrative’s arrangement and presentation of events. In the film The Godfather Part II, the fabula is the story of the Corleone family, and the syuzhet is the presentation of the story as it alternates between two timelines in 1901 and 1958. But literary theorist Mikhail Bakhtin maintained that fabula and syuzhet are insufficient to completely describe a narrative—he held that systematic categorizations of artistic phenomena discount the subtle way in which meaning is created by interactions between the artist, the work, and the audience.
Question 9 Answers
Prompt for question9
Which choice best states the main idea of the text?
A.
Literary theorist Mikhail Bakhtin argued that there are important characteristics of narratives that are not fully encompassed by two concepts that other theorists have used to analyze narratives.
B.
Literary theorist Mikhail Bakhtin claimed that meaning is not inherent in a narrative but is created when an audience encounters a narrative so that narratives are interpreted differently by different people.
C.
The storytelling methods used in The Godfather Part II may seem unusually complicated, but they can be easily understood when two concepts from literary theory are utilized.
D.
Narratives that are told out of chronological order are more difficult for audiences to understand than are narratives presented chronologically.
A.
Literary theorist Mikhail Bakhtin argued that there are important characteristics of narratives that are not fully encompassed by two concepts that other theorists have used to analyze narratives.
As media consumption has become increasingly multiplatform and socially mediated, active news acquisition has diminished in favor of an attitude known as “news finds me” (NFM), in which people passively rely on their social networks and ambient media environments for information about current events. Homero Gil de Zúñiga and Trevor Diehl examined data on a representative group of adults in the United States to determine participants’ strength of NFM attitude, political knowledge, and political interest. Although no major election took place sufficiently near the study for Gil de Zúñiga and Diehl to identify causality between NFM and voting behavior, they did posit that NFM may reduce voting probability through an indirect effect.
Question 13 Answers
Prompt for question13
Which finding, if true, would most directly support the idea advanced by Gil de Zúñiga and Diehl?
A.
NFM attitude tends to increase in strength as major elections approach, and people are significantly more likely to vote in major elections than in minor elections.
B.
NFM attitude has a strong negative effect on political knowledge and interest, and there is known to be a strong positive correlation between political knowledge and interest and the likelihood of voting.
C.
Political interest is known to have a strong positive effect on likelihood of voting but shows only a weak positive effect on political knowledge, and NFM attitude shows little correlation with either political knowledge or political interest.
D.
The likelihood of voting increases as political knowledge increases, and the relationship between NFM attitude and political knowledge tends to strengthen as the size of people’s social networks increases.
B.
NFM attitude has a strong negative effect on political knowledge and interest, and there is known to be a strong positive correlation between political knowledge and interest and the likelihood of voting.
In dialects of English spoken in Scotland, the “r” sound is strongly emphasized when it appears at the end of syllables (as in “car”) or before other consonant sounds (as in “bird”). English dialects of the Upland South, a region stretching from Oklahoma to western Virginia, place similar emphasis on “r” at the ends of syllables and before other consonant sounds. Historical records show that the Upland South was colonized largely by people whose ancestors came from Scotland. Thus, linguists have concluded that ______blank
Question 14 Answers
Prompt for question14
Which choice most logically completes the text?
A.
the English dialects spoken in the Upland South acquired their emphasis on the “r” sound from dialects spoken in Scotland.
B.
emphasis on the “r” sound will eventually spread from English dialects spoken in the Upland South to dialects spoken elsewhere.
C.
the English dialects spoken in Scotland were influenced by dialects spoken in the Upland South.
D.
people from Scotland abandoned their emphasis on the “r” sound after relocating to the Upland South.
A.
the English dialects spoken in the Upland South acquired their emphasis on the “r” sound from dialects spoken in Scotland.
Mary Ellen Pleasant, a successful entrepreneur during the gold rush era, earned the moniker “Mother of Human Rights in California” after successfully challenging discrimination in the state. ______blank in 1866, she sued a streetcar company for denying her and other Black riders service, a suit she eventually won when the California Supreme Court declared it illegal for carriers to exclude passengers based on race.
Question 24 Answers
Prompt for question24
Which choice completes the text with the most logical transition?
A.
For this reason,
B.
Then,
C.
In addition,
D.
Specifically,
Choice D is the best answer. “Specifically” logically signals that the information about Pleasant’s 1866 lawsuit provides specific, precise details elaborating on the previous point that Pleasant successfully challenged discrimination in California.
The following text is adapted from James Baldwin’s 1956 novel Giovanni’s Room. The narrator is riding in a taxi down a street lined with food vendors and shoppers in Paris, France.
The multitude of Paris seems to be dressed in blue every day but Sunday, when, for the most part, they put on an unbelievably festive black. Here they were now, in blue, disputing, every inch, our passage, with their wagons, handtrucks, their bursting baskets carried at an angle steeply self-confident on the back.
©1956 by James Baldwin
Question 4 Answers
Prompt for question4
As used in the text, what does the word “disputing” most nearly mean?
A.
Arguing about
B.
Disapproving of
C.
Asserting possession of
D.
Providing resistance to
Choice D is the best answer because as used in the text, “disputing” most nearly means providing resistance to. The narrator is in a taxi as it drives down a street lined with so many food vendors and shoppers that the narrator describes them as “the multitude of Paris,” meaning an immense group of people. The street is essentially a large open-air market, and there are so many people pushing small wagons of goods and carrying shopping baskets that “every inch” of the taxi’s progress is impeded. In other words, the people are providing resistance to the taxi’s attempt to drive down the street.
Since its completion in 2014, Bosco Verticale (Vertical Forest)—a pair of residential towers in Milan, Italy, covered by vegetation—has become a striking symbol of environmental sustainability in architecture. Stefano Boeri intended his design, which features balconies that are home to hundreds of trees, to serve as a model for promoting urban biodiversity. However, the concept has faced skepticism: critics note that although the trees used in Bosco Verticale were specifically cultivated for the project, it’s too early to tell if they can thrive in this unusual setting.
Question 7 Answers
Prompt for question7
According to the text, why are some critics skeptical of the concept behind Bosco Verticale?
A.
Some essential aspects of Bosco Verticale’s design are difficult to adapt to locations other than Milan.
B.
The plant life on Bosco Verticale ended up being less varied than Boeri had envisioned it would be.
C.
The construction of Bosco Verticale was no less environmentally damaging than the construction of more conventional buildings is.
D.
It is unclear whether Bosco Verticale can support the plant life included in its design.
D.
It is unclear whether Bosco Verticale can support the plant life included in its design.
Elizabeth Asiedu has identified a negative correlation between the share of developing countries’ economies derived from natural-resource extraction and those countries’ receipts of foreign investment. This may appear counterintuitive—resource extraction requires initial investments (in extractive technology, for instance) at scales best met by multinational corporations—but Asiedu notes that natural-resource industries’ boom-bust cycle can destabilize local currencies and increase developing countries’ vulnerability to external shocks, creating levels of uncertainty to which foreign investors are typically averse.
Question 8 Answers
Prompt for question8
Which choice best states the main idea of the text?
A.
Although it may seem surprising that foreign investment declines in developing countries as natural-resource extraction makes up a larger share of those countries’ economies, that decline happens because resource extraction requires initial investments too large for foreign investors to supply.
B.
Although developing countries tend to become less dependent on foreign investment as natural-resource industries make up a larger share of their economies, this change may not occur if the boom-bust cycle of those industries destabilizes local currencies or increases countries’ vulnerability to external shocks.
C.
Although one might expect that foreign investment would increase as natural-resource extraction makes up a larger share of developing countries’ economies, the opposite happens because heavy reliance on natural resources can lead to unattractive conditions for investors.
D.
Although foreign investors tend to avoid initial investments in natural-resource industries in developing countries, foreign investment may increase significantly as those industries stabilize and the risks associated with them decline.
C.
Although one might expect that foreign investment would increase as natural-resource extraction makes up a larger share of developing countries’ economies, the opposite happens because heavy reliance on natural resources can lead to unattractive conditions for investors.
Some astronomers searching for extraterrestrial life have proposed that atmospheric NH3 (ammonia) can serve as a biosignature gas—an indication that a planet harbors life. Jingcheng Huang, Sara Seager, and colleagues evaluated this possibility, finding that on rocky planets, atmospheric NH3 likely couldn’t reach detectably high levels in the absence of biological activity. But the team also found that on so-called mini-Neptunes—gas planets smaller than Neptune but with atmospheres similar to Neptune’s—atmospheric pressure and temperature can be high enough to produce atmospheric NH3.
Question 9 Answers
Prompt for question9
Based on the text, Huang, Seager, and colleagues would most likely agree with which statement about atmospheric NH3?
A.
Its presence is more likely to indicate that a planet is a mini-Neptune than that the planet is a rocky planet that could support life.
B.
Its absence from a planet that’s not a mini-Neptune indicates that the planet probably doesn’t have life.
C.
It should be treated as a biosignature gas if detected in the atmosphere of a rocky planet but not if detected in the atmosphere of a mini-Neptune.
D.
It doesn’t reliably reach high enough concentrations in the atmospheres of rocky planets or mini-Neptunes to be treated as a biosignature gas.
Choice C is the best answer because it states a conclusion the researchers likely agree with, given the details in the text. The text explains that a biosignature gas is a gas that can be used as an indicator that a planet harbors some form of life and some astronomers have proposed that NH3 could serve as a biosignature gas. The researchers evaluating this claim found that the atmosphere of rocky planets would be unlikely to reach “detectably high levels” of NH3 without biological activity, which would support the proposal of NH3 serving as a biosignature gas. However, the text also states that mini-Neptune planets can produce NH3 in the absence of biological activity. Thus, the text is structured to lead to the conclusion that detectable levels of NH3 in the atmospheres of rocky planets could constitute a biosignature, but that is not the case for detectable levels of the gas in the atmospheres of mini-Neptune planets.
Under normal atmospheric pressure at Earth’s surface, water molecules form a tetrahedral network stabilized by hydrogen bonds between adjacent molecules. Extreme high pressure, such as can be found in deep ocean waters, destabilizes these bonds and compresses water’s structure, allowing water molecules within organisms to permeate proteins and impede crucial biological functions; yet deep-sea organisms known as piezophiles have adapted to extreme pressure. Studies have found a positive correlation between the depths that various piezophiles inhabit and concentrations of a compound called trimethylamine N-oxide (TMAO) in their muscle tissues, which has led a team of researchers to hypothesize that TMAO reduces water’s compressibility.
Question 12 Answers
Prompt for question12
Which finding, if true, would most directly support the researchers’ hypothesis?
A.
Water molecules are found to be impervious to TMAO even when the water molecules’ tetrahedral configuration has been distorted by high pressure.
B.
Examination of TMAO’s molecular structure shows that TMAO molecules retain their shape even as pressure increases.
C.
A positive correlation is found between concentrations of TMAO and the rate at which water’s molecular structure compresses as pressure increases.
D.
Analysis of water’s molecular structure under high pressure reveals that hydrogen bonds are more stable when TMAO is present than when it is not.
Choice D is the best answer because it presents a finding that, if true, would support the researchers’ hypothesis that TMAO reduces water’s compressibility.
In a 2013 study, Agness Gidna, José Yravedra, and Manuel Domínguez-Rodrigo compared the feeding behaviors of wild lions in Tanzania’s Tarangire National Park with those of captive lions in Spain’s Cabárceno Reserve. The researchers noted that previous studies focused on other carnivores have shown that providing animals with food at regular intervals, as is common in captive settings, may inadvertently facilitate the development of novel stereotypic (i.e., purposelessly repetitive) behaviors by reducing the need for a high degree of cognitive engagement with the environment; the researchers were therefore not altogether surprised to find that ______blank
Question 14 Answers
Prompt for question14
Which choice most logically completes the text?
A.
bones from carcasses provided to captive lions showed signs of extensive gnawing beyond the point of nutrient extraction, whereas bones from prey hunted by wild lions did not.
B.
during feeding episodes, captive male lions showed much more aggression than did wild male lions, whereas female captive and wild lions showed similar levels of aggression.
C.
when caretakers placed food in boxes that were cognitively demanding to open, captive lions showed repeated behaviors similar to those that wild lions show when stalking prey.
D.
captive lions showed a stereotypic behavior of pacing in their enclosures as feeding times approached, whereas wild lions showed a stereotypic behavior of pacing before embarking on a hunt.
Choice A is the best answer because it most logically completes the text’s discussion of the research on feeding behaviors of wild and captive lions.
Long attributed to Jacques-Louis David, the preeminent Neoclassical painter of his day, the 1801 painting Marie Joséphine Charlotte du Val d’Ognes gained fresh attention in the 1990s when art historians discovered that the painting—which depicts a solitary young woman sketching—was actually the work of little-known French portrait ______blank Marie-Denise Villers (1774–1821).
Question 17 Answers
Prompt for question17
Which choice completes the text so that it conforms to the conventions of Standard English?
A.
artist—
B.
artist
C.
artist:
D.
artist
B.
artist
In 1986, conceptual artist Sophie Calle asked twenty-three people, all of whom had been born without sight, to describe “their image of beauty” in rich detail. Calle paired excerpts of these conversations with photographs—both of interviewees and the items they ______blank to powerful effect in her exhibition The Blind.
Question 18 Answers
Prompt for question18
Which choice completes the text so that it conforms to the conventions of Standard English?
A.
described, from hair to grass to sculptures
B.
described, from hair to grass to sculptures—
C.
described—from hair to grass to sculptures,
D.
described: from hair to grass to sculptures
B.
described, from hair to grass to sculptures—
American abstract artist Richard ______blank his installations to make passersby keenly aware of how one’s movements are affected by the physical features of one’s environment, assembles large-scale steel plates into sculptures that dominate the outdoor spaces they occupy.
Question 19 Answers
Prompt for question19
Which choice completes the text so that it conforms to the conventions of Standard English?
A.
Serra is intending
B.
Serra, intends
C.
Serra, intending
D.
Serra intends
C.
Serra, intending
