TSI testing

When the narrator repeatedly uses the pronouns "we" and "us," she is most likely speaking of herself and

A sibling

Nothing seems to work better in England than the theater, and it works to perfection. Reasons are not hard to find: a sense of community involving both actors and audience, and a rich, self-renewing tradition stretching back to Shakespeare. Company loyalty rather than cutthroat competition is intelligently underwritten by state subsidy. The theaters must fill a high percentage of seats to justify their government grants. Their programs must be serious, but not so self-indulgent as to be out of the grasp of the audience. The result is a standard of performance consistently as high as any in the Western world. The author's attitude toward English theater is best described as

Admiring

Outstanding novelist, skilled folklorist, journalist, critic, and scholar, Zora Neale Hurston was, during the period between 1920 and 1950, the most prolific published Black woman writer in America. Yet she lived in controversy, died penniless, and was out of print for thirty years. Only now is her work receiving the recognition it deserves. The author's attitude toward Hurston can best be described as

Admiring

In context, where would the following sentence best be placed? "There are a number of possible reasons for this."

After sentence 4

If Antarctica's icebergs could be floated north before melting, many arid areas would experience relief from drought. Rewrite, beginning with "If they could be floated north before melting, ..." The next words will be

Antarctica's icebergs would bring

In the middle of the sixteenth century, Antwerp was a crowded, lively city; some hundred thousand people lived there. Disease, plague, and fire took their regular toll; yet boom conditions prevailed. New houses, shops, and guildhalls were constructed, and in 1542 the city walls were expanded at great cost. The main point of the passage is that

Antwerp had problems but was a thriving and prosperous city

In context, which of the following is best to insert at the beginning of sentence 7 (reproduced below)? "Japanese researchers are much more familiar with it and have spent decades studying its potential uses."

As a result

Sesame Street‖ is the most thoroughly researched television program in history. It was studied before it went on the air and has been analyzed since. Its success in achieving its basic goal, improving the reading, arithmetic, and other basic skills of young children, has been well documented. There is also some evidence that children imitate the human behavior they observe on the program. These harmless, often amusing imitative acts may justify the current concern about the effects on children of televised violence. ―Sesame Street‖ aims primarily at improving

Basic skills

Good money managers control their present expenses, and they invest surplus dollars to meet their future needs. Rewrite the sentence using "because" The best choice will be...

Because good money managers control their present expenses, they invest surplus dollars to meet their needs.

Scientists have discovered a protein substance that is crucial to the development of the human brain. It is composed of large molecules that make brain cells ―sticky‖ and cause them to adhere to one another, thus forming the long nerve fibers that characterize the complex wiring of the brain's circuitry. It can be inferred from the passage that the newly discovered protein molecules are most similar to which of the following?

Glue

If you are committed to healthy, green living and want to reduce your environmental footprint, you might consider expanding your daily diet to include bugs. Supporters of the edible insect initiative rightfully argue that farming insects has a much lower environmental impact than does raising livestock since bugs are easier to harvest and require a fraction of the water and land space that cattle need. Indeed, the high-protein, low-fat health benefits of bug-eating have long been known. For hundreds of years, crickets, silkworms and even tarantulas have been served roasted, stewed and fried at the dinner tables of many cultures. In the first sentence, "expanding" most nearly means

Broadening

Carmen created a new piñata by constructing a papier-mâché figure and decorating it with brilliantly colored tissue paper. Rewrite, beginning with "To create a new piñata, ..." The next words will be

Carmen constructed a papier-mâché figure

Studies show that the prevalence of fast-food restaurants corresponds with the rates of obesity in both children and adults. Obesity is now on the rise in countries outside the U.S., where fast food restaurants are becoming more common.

They express roughly the same idea.

So diverse are Hawaiian habitats that one might think they could support an endless variety of animals and plants. Natural dispersal to island, however, is a bottleneck through which a relatively small number of plants and animals can pass - only those preadapted to transport across long distances of ocean. The two sentences in the passage are linked by the unstated assumption that

Hawaii is a group of islands

Hawaii, which consists of eight major islands and many smaller ones, and which used to be known as the Sandwich Islands, was admitted to the Union as the fiftieth state in 1959. Rewrite, beginning with "Formerly known as the Sandwich Islands, and consisting of eight major and many smaller islands, ..." The next words will be

Hawaii was

On June 6, 1933, Richard Hollingshead opened the World's First Automobile Movie Theater in Camden, New Jersey. In a single bold stroke, Hollingshead combined two new and distinctive features of American life-motion pictures and the automobile-into a novel theatrical experience that was to reshape the American landscape. ―Sit in your car and enjoy the talkies,‖ the opening night advertisements proclaimed. They did not even mention the name of the film to be shown that fateful night; clearly, the real attraction was the theater itself. Why was Hollingshead's idea considered new and different?

He put together two previously unrelated things to make a new kind of theater.

Plywood, while not the most pleasing wood to look at, has become an incredibly important building material in house construction. It is flexible, inexpensive, and strong. Its strength is due to layers of thin wood glued on top of each other with the grain of each layer making a right angle with the grain of the layer below it. This way of layering the sheets of wood makes plywood difficult to break. Which word best describes the author's attitude towards plywood's qualities

Impressed

Select the best edit. In a large city, you may have massive traffic jams on your daily commute to work.

In a large city, massive traffic jams may be part of the daily commute to work.

The idea that lightning never strikes the same place twice is one of the oldest and most well-known weather-related myths; <in fact>, lightning strikes the Empire State Building in New York City about 100 times per year.

In fact

Conservationists have short-sightedly condemned the elephants that roam in the parks of Kenya for the destruction of baobab trees-huge plants that are reputed to live for hundreds of years. It is certainly distressing to see this destruction occur; if one goes deeper into the question, however, one will discover that the baobab tree contains more than thirty trace elements and is particularly rich in calcium. While the free is standing, it provides shade and a nesting place for birds, but only when it is felled are its nutrients released into the soil and made available to other plants and, in turn, to animals. Could it not be that this ―destructive‖ tendency of the elephants in reality makes good ecological sense? The passage as a whole suggests which of the following?

It is often hard to tell what is best for the environment

In context, which of the following sentences would best be inserted between sentences 9 and 10?

Maine Seaweed Co., for instance, harvests the seaweed naturally available along the U.S. coast.

Saginaw, Des Moines, Greenwich, Cairo-towns in the United States have names that reflect the heritages that made them. It is not hard to guess who settled Holland, Michigan, and Swedesboro, New Jersey, or that American Indians influenced the names for Tallahassee and Omaha. Nor is it difficult to understand why a town is called Rome or Athens, or even Havre de Grace or Santa Clara. Which of the following probably received its name in the same way as did towns in the passage?

New London

Characters in fantasies written for children differ significantly from one historical period to another. Each fantasy in some way holds up a mirror to the culture in which it is produced. When we examine literary fantasy, we look upon a reflection of the social pressures of the period, problems of sex role and personal identity, and the changing role of the artist. What all of these changing patterns mean is the subject of an interesting sociological study. Which of the following statements would most clearly be supported by the passage?

Nineteenth-century fantasies are likely to have in common features not found in twentieth-century fantasies.

As energy costs rise and resources wane, people look to the sun. Solar energy almost certainly will be a main source for heating buildings someday. Special roof panels that take in the heat have already been developed and are now in use. In the average home, however, about one hundred tons of rock or several thousand gallons of water are needed to store enough heat for release during dark hours. Recently an inventor has created a heat storage and transfer device which can release heat as needed. Its small size makes it a more practical tool than piles of rock or pools of water. The keys to the invention are small amounts of eutectic salt, which can store a large volume of heat, and a special technique for releasing that heat as it is needed. Which of the following will hold and store the most heat from the sun?

One pound of eutectic salt

Some historians attribute the origins of the front porches so common in American houses to the covered porticos of classical Rome. Indeed, our word "porch" derives from the Latin portico. However, these colonnaded spaces were almost always connected to public or religious structures rather than to private homes. The loggias of Renaissance Venice, recessed front entryways built into the ground floor of Venetian canal houses, perhaps provide a better starting point for the evolution of the American-style porch. This architectural feature later became popularized throughout Europe by the 17th-century Venetian architect Andrea Palladio. Eventually, English colonists would spread the loggia to the American colonies. Why does the author mention Venetian architect Andrea Palladio?

Palladio inspired other builders to include loggias in their designs.

In 2010, talk show host Oprah Winfrey and novelist Jonathan Franzen kissed and made up after a nine-year feud. In 2001, Franzen was disinvited from appearing on Winfrey's TV show to pitch his novel The Corrections after he made it clear that he was unhappy about the book's being chosen for the Oprah Book Club. Describing his work as "in the high-art literary tradition," Franzen said he didn't want to be associated with the Club, which he accused of occasionally choosing "schmaltzy, one-dimensional" novels. But Winfrey is apparently able to forgive and forget: she chose Franzen's next novel, Freedom, for her book club and said of it, "Now you haven't heard me say this word often, but this book is a masterpiece."

Pride

In context, which is the best revision to sentence 13 (reproduced below)? "They say that the seaweed-based fuel would work better in automobiles than ethanol and be easier to transport."

Replace "They say" with "Advocates contend".

In context, which of the following is the best way to revise and combine sentences 1 and 2 (reproduced below)? "Seaweed-based fuel could one day power your car. It is more than just an ingredient in a purifying face mask or a sushi roll."

Seaweed is more than just an ingredient in a purifying face mask or a sushi roll; seaweed-based fuel could one day power your car.

Select the best edit. We could watch the stars sitting on the balcony.

Sitting on the balcony, we could watch the stars.

Long thought to be a case of mistaken identity, the discovery of the Bornean rainbow toad by European explorers in 1924 was recently verified by scientists. The explorers had made a black-and-white sketch of an unusual toad they had found in the jungles of Southeast Asia, christening it the Bornean rainbow toad. Skeptical but curious, scientists recently went to look for the toad—and ended up finding three specimens.

Some people doubted the existence of the toad

I would without hesitation describe myself as a nature-lover. All aspects of nature-plants, animals, insects-fascinate me. I do not need to travel to experience these things; after all these years of natural history magazines and educational television programs I feel I know enough. Which of the following describes a person most similar to the speaker?

Someone content with reproductions of great art

Saginaw, Des Moines, Greenwich, Cairo-towns in the United States have names that reflect the heritages that make them. It is not hard to guess who settled Holland, Michigan, and Swedesboro, New Jersey, or that American Indians influenced the names for Tallahassee and Omaha. Nor is it difficult to understand why a town is called Rome or Athens, or even Havre de Grace or Santa Clara. The main point of the passage is that

The ethnic diversity of the United State is revealed in the names of its towns

For all the acclaim that surrounded her, Willa Cather was an elusive, complex person. We know very little about her personal life because she destroyed most of her papers and left a will forbidding the publication of her letters. Although she was eager to be recognized professionally, she did not welcome publicity. She viewed every phone call and every photographer as an invasion of her privacy and a waste of the precious time she could be devoting to her writing. The passage is intended primarily to explain

Why we know little of Cather's private life

It was dusk before I fed fish. When I dropped food into the tank containing the gourami and the newly hatched young, he was already scooping the young into his mouth and returning them to the safely of the nest for the night. He had just taken some young into his mouth when a tempting food morsel floated by him. I assumed that it was the end of those young. But the gourami paused, as if considering the situation, and then blew the young from his mouth before turning to snap up the food morsel. It can be inferred that the author thought which of the following would happen when the fish saw the morsel of food?

The fish would swallow the young along with the food.

Emily Dickinson had a clear sense of her vocation as poet; yet virtually none of her verse was published until after her death. One who writes in isolation must inevitably forfeit whatever advantage lies in the discipline of public criticism and the enforced conformity to accepted ways. One the other hand, the writer may gain something through the habit of freedom and the unconventional utterance of daring thoughts. Though curiously indifferent to all conventional rules, Dickinson had a rigorous literary standard of her own and often altered a word many times to suit an ear which had its own tenacious fastidiousness. According to the passage, which of the following statement about Emily Dickinson's poems is true?

They wee written to express her own thoughts.

American copyright laws, laws that prohibit the use, distribution, or adaptation of another's product without permission, first applied only to the copying of books, but now cover such diverse products as sound recordings, motion pictures, and computer programs. The federal Copyright Act of 1790 allowed copyright protection for 14 years with one 14-year extension allowed (if the author survived the first 14-year term). The Copyright Act of 1909 extended copyright protection to 28 years with a 28-year renewal, and the Copyright Act of 1976 extended it further, to 75 years.

To indicate how copyright laws have changed

The main authors of The Declaration of Independence and the Constitution are usually thought of as America's "Founding Fathers." Other, less known personages also deserve the title, however, and Noah Webster was one of these. Through his writings, which include the still- influential dictionary that bears his name, Webster sought to legitimize an "American English" that was independent of British spelling and pronunciation. For instance, Webster removed the "u" from "colour," creating the distinct American version of the word.

To present information about an important American

The 1922 German Expressionist film Nosferatu, directed by F. W. Murnau, is considered one of the most influential films in cinematic history—while also being a classic vampire movie. The film is closely based on Bram Stoker's 1897 novel, Dracula; however, the villain in the film is called "Count Orlok" rather than "Count Dracula." The reason is that the small studio that produced the film, Prana Film, was unable to secure the rights to Stoker's novel. In fact, shortly after finishing Nosferatu, its one and only film, Prana went bankrupt in order to dodge copyright lawsuits from Stoker's widow.

To show that the makers of Nosferatu made minor changes to Stoker's novel

Food additives are a major concern of health-conscious people today, but the practice of adding substances to foods to preserve them or to enhance their flavors has existed for thousands of years. Even before recorded history, salt was used to cure meat and fish, and the acquisition of spices to flavor foods and mask the taste of spoiled ones played an important role in the progress of the Roman Empire. The author implies that certain food additives are particularly

Useful

Select the best edit for the underlined part. Judy is dating a <man that has a seven hundred-acre ranch near the foothills outside of town.>

a man who has a seven hundred-acre ranch near the foothills outside of town.

Obesity is the result of a positive energy balance, that is, an excess of calories consumed over calories expended—but attention has been focused almost exclusively on the caloric consumption part of the formula. Exercise is a factor that is frequently overlooked, despite its demonstrated effectiveness in reducing body fat. In the context of this passage, the word ―positive‖ can best be interpreted to mean

a quantity greater than zero

It is said that a smile is universally understood. Nothing triggers a smile more universally than the taste of sugar. Nearly everyone loves sugar. Infant studies indicate that humans are born with an innate love of sweets. Based on statistics, a lot of people in Great Britain must be smiling because on average, every man, woman and child in that country consumes 95 pounds of sugar each year. This passage implies that the writer thinks that 95 pounds of sugar per person per year is:

a surprisingly large amount

One of the rights a citizen of the United States is supposed to have is the right to a fair and speedy trial, Unfortunately, as people who are charged with crimes quickly find out, trials often occur weeks or months after the arrest. People accused of crimes must sometimes spend the time waiting for the trial in jail. Trials cannot take place quickly because court calendars are overly crowded, probably because there are not enough judges. Clearly, something must be done to reform the judicial system so that a fundamental right is guaranteed. The fundamental right referred to in the last sentence is the citizen's right to

a trial soon after being arrested

A backpacker must be prepared for climatic extremes. When you hit the trail in the morning, the temperature may be below zero. You have to keep warm but also be able to move comfortably and freely. As the sun comes up, the temperature often climbs rapidly, and you must be able to dissipate heat. But then, as you move around an outcropping of rock or into forest cover, the temperature can drop almost instantaneously. The author suggests that a backpacker must be

adaptable

Details in the passage suggest that the narrator is

an adult recalling a location from childhood

Polyvinyl chloride, or PVC, is used in most water-carrying pipes in the United States. Known for their resistance to the corrosion that can be caused by water, PVC pipes are more durable than the metal pipes of old. As useful as PVC is, it may be surprising that it was accidentally discovered in 1835 by Henri Victor Regnault, who observed a mysterious white solid plastic forming inside some test tubes that were left exposed to sunlight in his lab. It can be inferred from the passage that metal pipes

are more likely to corrode than PVC pipes

The author of Passage 2 probably would respond to the last sentence of Passage 1 ("Parents . . . every day!") by

arguing that children should be spending more time using computers

In some places, virtually all the topsoil has washed away, leaving the subsoils to sustain the crops. Rewrite, beginning with "In some places, the subsoils must sustain the crops ..." The next word will be

because

Select the best edit for the underlined part. These <books, which was published in the late eighteenth century,> are very valuable.

books, which were published in the late eighteenth century

For years, the government of Brazil believed that the soil inland along the Amazon River would be rich and fertile and would provide a paradise for poverty-stricken peasants living near the coast. Government officials predicted that the construction of the Transamazon Highway would induce peasants by the millions to flock to the rain forests, settle a new frontier, and begin a new life. The plan did not work, however. Discouraged by thick forests and by soil in which it was actually difficult to grow crops, many of the pioneers returned to their traditional homes in the northeastern part of the country. The main point of the passage is that

conditions inland along the Amazon were not as good as Brazil's officials had expected

Sesame Street‖ is the most thoroughly researched television program in history. It was studied before it went on the air and has been analyzed since. Its success in achieving its basic goal, improving the reading, arithmetic, and other basic skills of young children, has been well documented. There is also some evidence that children imitate the human behavior they observe on the program. These harmless, often amusing imitative acts may justify the current concern about the effects on children of televised violence. According to the passage, children watching ―Sesame Street‖ lend to

copy what they see the performers do

In a world bound to the wheel of change, the humanities stress the persistence of unchanging issues. They do not offer the prospect of progress in knowledge as the sciences do, nor do they even offer, as do the social sciences, the promise of such progress. They raise questions about meaning, purpose, and values that a hurried world, enamored of technique, finds uncomfortable. The central idea of the passage is that the humanities

deal with the important, eternal issues

Structure in the inner ear called the ―labyrinths‖ regulate posture by sending signals to the brain indicating our position in space from moment to moment. When the labyrinths are not functioning properly, because of a virus (viral labyrinthitis) or other infection, or because their blood supply is reduced by arteriosclerosis of the arteries feeding them, the result is dizziness or vertigo. Such an attack is often so sudden and severe that the victim may not even be able to raise his or her head off a pillow. The viral variety usually follows a cold and clears up in a few days. The primary purpose of the passage is to

describe what happens when labyrinths do not function as they should

Nothing seems to work better in England than the theater, and if works to perfection. Reasons are not hard to find: a sense of community involving both actors and audience, and a rich, self-renewing tradition stretching back to Shakespeare. Company loyalty rather than cutthroat competition is intelligently underwritten by state subsidy. The theaters must fill a high percentage of seats to justify their government grants. Their programs must be serious, but not so self-indulgent as to be out of the grasp of the audience. The result is a standard of performance consistently as high as any in the Western world. The author of the passage is primarily concerned with

discussing reasons why English theater is flourishing

All water molecules form six-sided structures as they freeze and become snow crystals. The particular, virtually unique, crystal shape is determined by temperature, vapor, and wind conditions in the upper atmosphere. Snow crystals are uniformly symmetrical because these conditions affect all six sides simultaneously. The purpose of the passage is to present

factual information

Because of the recent ruling, television stations - at least in theory - are now free to program laundry detergent commercials all day long with maybe a few minutes of an old movie thrown in for kicks. The tone of the passage can best be described as

flippant

Facing a 50% cut in funding for the library, the director was forced to lay off two librarians and sharply reduce hours of operation. Rewrite, beginning with "Funding for the library was cut by 50%, ..." The next words will be

forcing the director

Although more people than ever are gardening today, there could very well be a decline in gardening in the near future. Studies show a large number of dropout gardeners, most of them people whose hopes of large savings on food were frustrated by their lack of gardening know-how. The main idea of the passage is that

gardening is not as simple as people think

It was dusk before I fed the fish. When I dropped food into the tank containing the gourami and the newly hatched young, he was already scooping the young into his mouth and returning them to the safely of the nest for the night. He had just taken some young into his mouth when a tempting food morsel floated by him. I assumed that it was the end of those young. But the gourami paused, as if considering the situation, and then blew the young from his mouth before turning to snap up the food morsel. The use of the phrase ―as if considering the situation‖ in the last sentence suggests that

gouramis may sometimes appear capable of making decisions

In his book The Ghost in the Machine, Arthur Koestler maintains that people's inclination to cooperate with each other is infinitely more dangerous than their selfishness. That sounds like a paradox, but historians agree that only a small percentage of historical violence has resulted from selfishly aggressive impulses. Wars have been fought primarily for the gods, for king and country, for humankind's future, or something of that kind. The number of people who hare fallen victim to thieves and other criminals has always been negligible in comparison to the masses slain in the name of true religion, a just politics, or the right ideology. According to the passage, wars have resulted chiefly from

grand causes and noble idea

According to explorers, a "Lost Falls" resembling New York's Niagara Falls <have been found> in Tsangpo River Gorge in the Himalaya Mountains.

has been found

Select the best edit for the underlined part. If a person wants to succeed in school, <they have to study. >

he or she has to study.

The descriptions of the Lab and of the ice house are similar in that both descriptions

highlight the narrator's misconception of size

Select the best edit for the underlined part. Working as a receptionist for my uncle's business taught me <to handle customer complaints, answering the telephone, and how to maintain a Rolodex.>

how to handle customer complaints, how to answer the telephone, and how to maintain a Rolodex.

In line 1, "this work" clearly refers to

insect research

If you are committed to healthy, green living and want to reduce your environmental footprint, you might consider expanding your daily diet to include bugs. Supporters of the edible insect initiative rightfully argue that farming insects has a much lower environmental impact than does raising livestock since bugs are easier to harvest and require a fraction of the water and land space that cattle need. Indeed, the high-protein, low-fat health benefits of bug-eating have long been known. For hundreds of years, crickets, silkworms and even tarantulas have been served roasted, stewed and fried at the dinner tables of many cultures.

interest and support

One of the rights a citizen of the United States is supposed to have is the right to a fair and speedy trial. Unfortunately, as people who are charged with crimes quickly find out, trials often occur weeks or months after the arrest. People accused of crimes must sometimes spend the time waiting for the trial in jail. Trials cannot take place quickly because enough judges. Clearly, something must be done to reform the judicial system so that a fundamental right is guaranteed. Waiting in jail for trial can be considered a violation of right because a person waiting in a jail

is imprisoned without ever being tried and convicted

Experienced superhighway drivers know the importance of staying out of what some people call wolf packs—several fast moving vehicles bunched together. Wolf-packing can be the cause of high-speed fatalities. The author implies that experienced drivers avoid wolf-packing primarily because

it can be the cause of fatal accidents

A recent study conducted by British zoologists concludes that, like birds and other animals, human beings possess a ―homing instinct.‖ The study showed that this homing instinct or natural sense of direction is based on some kind of perception of magnetic fields. When blindfolded students who otherwise displayed a keen homing sense were made to wear helmets containing magnets, they became disoriented. The passage suggests that the cause of the students' disorientation was that the

magnets in the helmets interfered with their homing sense

In his songs, Gordon Lightfoot makes melody and lyrics intricately intertwine. Rewrite, beginning with Melody and lyrics... Your new sentence will include:

make Gordon Lightfoot's

For marathoners, cool weather is a blessing. The most comfortable marathon I ever ran was held under slightly below-freezing conditions. I loved every step, suffered not at all, and had a weight loss from perspiration too little to measure. One can infer from the passage that

marathon runners tend to lose weight during a race in hot weather

Television has been the primary source of information and entertainment for most Americans over the last 50 years. However, with Internet use on the rise year after year, some may wonder if surfing the net will soon surpass watching television as Americans' primary leisure activity. Indeed, some recent surveys show that time spent on the Internet is now greater than time spent in front of the television. However, this statistic may not tell the whole story, as 59% of Americans say they multitask, using the Internet and watching TV simultaneously.

may have become less popular than the Internet

In the 1870's, fire fighters had ninety-seven-foot ladders. Now, in the 1990's they have one-hundred-foot ladders. That's progress for you! The tone of the passage can best be described as

mildly sarcastic

Ironically, storms create more problems for today's jet travelers than they did for passengers in the propeller-driven planes of yesteryear. Though technology has advanced, communication systems have lagged behind. Banking upon improved technology, pilots often have been too ready to fly in stormy weather. In many accidents, pilots have lacked weather data known to others. The passage implies that modern pilots can be faulted for

misplaced confidence

Once the area of New Jersey called the ―meadows‖ was little more than a source of mosquitoes and foul odors, and the butt of many jokes and insulting remarks about New Jersey. Today, however, the Meadowlands, a major sports complex, is situated there, and more is coming. Directly across the Hudson River from new York City, the 18,000 acres of the ―meadows‖ overlap fourteen Bergen County communities. This once unusable swampland is selling fir about $100,000 an acre, making it just about the most prized piece of real estate in the Northeast. In line 4, the phrase ―more is coming‖ suggests primarily that

more construction will probably take place

Structures in the inner ear called the ―labyrinths‖ regulate posture by sending signals to the brain indicating our position in space from moment to moment. When the labyrinths are not functioning properly, because of a virus (viral labyrinthitis) or other infection, or because their blood supply is reduced vertigo. Such an attack is often so sudden and severe that the victim may not even be able to raise his or her head off a pillow. The viral variety usually follows a cold and clears up in a few days. The passage suggests that when labyrinths malfunction for more than a few days the cause is likely to be a

nonviral infection or a reduction in blood supply

In 1896 there were several dozen automobiles in all the United States; however, by the turn of the century, there were thousands, very few highways, and lots of jokes. This sentence introduces the idea that, in general, the United States in the early 1900's was.

not well prepared to accept the rapid emergence of automobiles

Most of us have heard the stories of the Pilgrims who landed at Plymouth Rock, and of such figures as Samuel Adams and Paul Revere, who played important parts in the American Revolution. We have thus come to accept the influence of the English on United States history. We sometimes forget, however, that another country had a considerable influence upon our country, particularly in the West and the Southwest. Such place names as Nevada and California, San Francisco and Santa Fe reveal the influence of Spain, as do words like lasso, coyote, arroyo, canyon, mesa, rodeo, pinto, and ranch which all were originally Spanish word. They bear witness to the settlement and development of the Southwest by the Spaniards. The passage suggests that the Spaniards had a major influence on

our language

The author of Passage 1 would most likely criticize the author of Passage 2 for

overlooking the drawbacks of increasing the time children spend using technology

Scientists have yet to create an effective shark repellent. In the 1970's a fish, the Moses sole, was found to exude a substance that repels some shark species. However, the substance, pardoxin, is difficult and costly to synthesize; also, it quickly deteriorates and is not as powerful as might be desired. The last sentence suggests that

pardoxin might be less promising than was first believed

A personal computer is a small computer based on a microprocessor; it is a microcomputer. Not all microcomputers, however, are personal computers. A microcomputer can be dedicated to a single task such as controlling a machine tool or metering the injection of fuel into an automobile engine; it can be a word processor, a video game, or a ―pocket computer‖ that is not quite a computer. A personal computer is something different: a standalone computer that puts a wide array of capabilities at the disposal of an individual. The author's chief aim in the passage is most likely to

provide an introduction to the subject of personal computers

Scientists have yet to create an effective shark repellent, In the 1970's a fish, the Moses sole, was found to exude a substance that repels some shark species. However, the substance, pardoxin, is difficult and costly t synthesize; also, it quickly deteriorates and is not as powerful as might be desired. The passage describes

recent efforts to develop a shark repellent

As energy costs rise and resources wane, people look to the sun. Solar energy almost certainly will be a main source for heating buildings someday. Special roof panels that take in the heat have already been developed and are now in use. In the average home, however, about one hundred tons of rock or several thousand gallons of water are needed to store enough heat storage and transfer device which can release heat as needed. Its small size makes it a more practical tool than piles of rock or pools of water. The keys to the invention are small amounts of eutectic salt, which can store a large volume of heat, and a special technique for releasing that heat as it is needed. The invention described is a method for

regulating the energy flow

Our bones grow continuously throughout our lives, with old bone cells dying and being discarded. However, for astronauts who are in space for a prolonged period, a lack of gravitational pull—which has a number of beneficial effects on the body, including supporting new bone growth—results in their bones adding less bone tissue to replace dying tissue. In fact, for every month in space, a person will lose 1.5 to 2% of his or her bone mass, with the hip bone and the lower leg bones most affected. The human body adds bone mass in order to:

replace dead bone tissue

Due to the fact it was raining on the scheduled day of the picnic, the drama club had to cancel and reschedule a new date for the event. Rewrite, beginning with The drama club had to... The next words should be...

reschedule the picnic because of rain.

In the Roman Empire, the first fish to be brought indoors was the sea barbel, it was kept under guest beds in small tanks made of marble.

sea barbel, which

Plywood, while not the most pleasing wood to look at, has become an incredibly important building material in house construction. It is flexible, inexpensive, and strong. Its strength is due to layers of thin wood glued on top of each other with the grain of each layer making a right angle with the grain of the layer below it. This way of layering the sheets of wood makes plywood difficult to break. According to the passage, the arrangement of the layers of thin wood explains plywood's

strength

Select the best edit for the underlined part. Coming in from Fourth Street, the <Student Union is seen by students who are arriving on campus.>

students who are arriving on campus see the Student Union.

Horror films <that keep viewers in a state of endless fright and which draw record-breaking crowds>.

that keep viewers in a state of endless fright draw

Most of us have heard the stories of the Pilgrims who landed at Plymouth Rock, and of such figures as Samuel Adams and Paul Revere, who played important parts in the American Revolution. We have thus come to accept the influence of the English on United States history. We sometimes forget, however, that another country had a considerable influence upon our country, particularly in the West and the Southwest. Such place names as Nevada and California, San Francisco and Santa Fe reveal the influence of Spain, as do words like lasso, coyote, arroyo, canyon, mesa, rodeo, pinto, and ranch, which all were originally Spanish words. They bear witness to the settlement and development of the Southwest by the Spaniards. The main point of the passage is that

the United States has been influenced by more than one culture

In Russian, only one syllable is accented in every word, with few exceptions. As in English, the accent is not fixed in that it does not always fall on the same syllable (for example, the last syllable) of the word. Unaccented syllables are pronounced somewhat shorter and less distinctly than the accented ones. The passage states that Russian and English are alike in that in both languages

the accent may fall on any syllable

Conservationists have short-sightedly condemned the elephants that roam in the parks of Kenya for the destruction of baobab trees—huge plants that are reputed to live for hundreds of years. If is certainly distressing to see this destruction occur; if one goes deeper into the question, however, one and is particularly rich in calcium. While the tree is standing, it provides released into the soil and made available to other plants and, in turn, to animals. Could it not be that this ―destructive‖ tendency of the elephants in reality makes good ecological sense? The main idea of the passage is that

the destruction of the baobab tree may be beneficial to the environment

Our bones grow continuously throughout our lives, with old bone cells dying and being discarded. However, for astronauts who are in space for a prolonged period, a lack of gravitational pull—which has a number of beneficial effects on the body, including supporting new bone growth—results in their bones adding less bone tissue to replace dying tissue. In fact, for every month in space, a person will lose 1.5 to 2% of his or her bone mass, with the hip bone and the lower leg bones most affected. It can be inferred from the passage that

the lower body typically experiences more bone growth than the upper body D. astronauts seldom stay in space for more than a month

In the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries, many women could not care for their children. Such children would be welcome in Shaker communities where they would be raised with love. The Shakers themselves, however, were celibate because they thought it was wrong to bring children into an evil world. According to the passage, the Shakers did not have children because they believed that

the world was full of suffering and wrongdoing

For years, the government of Brazil believed that the soil inland along the Amazon River would be rich and fertile and would provide a paradise for poverty-stricken peasants living near the coast. Government officials predicted that the construction of the Transamazon Highway would induce peasants by the millions to flock to the rain forests, settle a new frontier, and begin a new life. The plan did not work, however. Discouraged by thick forest and by soil in which it was actually difficult to grow crops, many of the pioneers returned to their traditional homes in the northeastern part of the country. The passage suggests that the peasants probably moved inland because

they thought conditions would be better inland

When we think of volcanoes, eruptions, lava, and smoke- filled air come to mind—all occurring on land. Most people are surprised to learn about the prevalence of underwater volcanoes on our planet. Because the lava and smoke spilling out of an active, underwater volcano is contained by the ocean, people generally do not take note of these eruptions. However, the largest underwater volcanoes are capable of creating huge tidal waves, threatening coastal communities.

underwater volcanoes receive little attention but can be dangerous

Japanese horticulturists of the last century developed each native plant into a great array of variants. However, the traditional family nursery is now being displaced by large companies selling packaged merchandise, and the result is a tragic loss of human skills and plant resources. It can be inferred from the passage that the author believes that the change in Japanese horticulture is

unfortunate

Once the area of New Jersey called the ―meadows‖ was little more than a source of mosquitoes and foul odors, and the butt of many jokes and insulting remarks about New Jersey. Today, however, the Meadowlands, a major sports complex, is situated there, and more is coming. Directly across the Hudson River from New York City, the 18,000 acres of the ―meadows‖ overlap fourteen Bergen County communities. This once unusable swampland is selling for about $100,000 an acre, making it just about the most prized piece of real estate in the Northeast. The change in the ―meadows‖ has been from

vacant land to prized real estate

Guillermo Gonzalez Camarena became a successful inventor at an early age. By the age of seven, he had constructed a variety of electronically-propelled toys to play with; he later designed and built his own amateur radio and a functioning telescope. In 1940, when he was only 23, Camarena obtained the world's first patent for color television. Camarena's early color television transmission system was the first one to be approved by the U.S. Federal Communications Commission. Other color-television technologies came after Camarena's patented invention, but his system is still used by a number of scientists today.

working

It is important to learn how to swim, even if <one is> afraid; the skill will invariably prove useful later in your life.

you are