Reading Comprehension
Time: 55 minutes (including the reading of the directions). Now set your clock for 55 minutes.

Questions 1-9

£ £ £ In science, a theory is a reasonable explanation of observed evnets that are related.
A theory often involves an imaginary model that helps scientists picture the way an
obseved event could could be produced. A good example of this is found in the kinetic
molecular theory, in which gases are pictured as being made up of many small particles
that are in constant motion.

£ £ £ A useful theoty, in addition to explaining past observations, helps to predict events
that have not as yet been ovserved. After a theory has been publized, scientists design
experiments to test the theory. If observations confirm the scientists predictions, the
theory is supported. If observations do not confirm the predictions, the scientists must
search further. There may be a fault in the experiment, or the theory may have to be
revised or rejected.

£ £ £ Science involves imagination and creative thinking as well as collecting information
and performing experiments. Facts by thenselves are not science. As the mathematician
Jules Henri Poincare said: "Science is built with facts just as a house is built with
bricks, But a collection of facts cannot be called science any more than a pile of bricks
can be called a house."

£ £ £ Most scientists start an investigation by finding out what other scientists have
learned avout a particular problem. After kmown facts have been gathered, the scientist
comes to the part of the investigation that requires considerable imagination. Possible
solutions to the problem are formulated. these possible solutions are called hypotheses.

£ £ £ In a way, any hypothesis is a leap into the unknown. It extents the scientist s
thinking beyond the known facts. The scientist plans experiments, performs calculations
and makes obser vations to test hypotheses. For without hypotheses, further investigation
lacks purpose and direction. Wheb hypotheses are confirmed, they are incorporated
into theories.

1. The word "related" in line 1 is closest in meaning to
(A) connected
(B) described
(C) completed
(D) identified

2. The word "this" in line 3 refers to
(A) a good example
(B) an imaginary model
(C) the kinetic molecular theory
(D) an observed event

3. Axxording to the second paragraph, a useful theory is one that helps scientists to
(A) find errors in past experiments
(B) make predictions
(C) observe events
(D) publicize new findings

4. The word "supported" in line 9 is closest in meaning to
(A) finished
(B) adjusted
(C) investigated
(D) upheld

5. Bricks are mentioned in lines 14-16 to indicate how
(A) mathematicinans approach science
(B) building a house is like performing experiments
(C) science is more than a collection of facts
(D) scientific experiments have led to improved technology

6. In the fourth paragraph, the author implies that imagination is most important to scientists when they
(A) evaluate previous work on a problem
(B) formulate possible solutions to a problem
(C) gather known facts
(D) close an investigation

7. In line 21, the author refers to a hypotheses as "a leap into the unknown" in order to show that hypotheses
(A) are sometimes ill-conceived
(B) can lead to dangerous resultss
(C) go beyond available facts
(D) require effort to formulate

8. In the last paragraph, what does the author imply a major function of hypotheses?
(A) Sifting through known facts
(B)Communicating a scientist s thoughts to others
(C) Providing direction for scientific research
(D) Linking together different theories

9. Which of the following statements is supported by the passage?
(A) Theories are simply imaginary models of past events.
(B) It is better to revise a hypothesis than to reject it.
(C) A scientist s most difficult task is testing hypotheses.
(D) A good scientist needs to be creative.

Question 10-20

£ £ £ By the mid-nineteenth century, the term "icebox" had entered the American
language, but ice was still only beginning to affect the diet of ordinary citizens in the
United States. The ice trade grew with the growth of cities. Ice was used in hotels,
taverns, and hospitals, and by some forward-looking city dealers in fresh meat, fresh
fish, and butter. After the Civil War(1860-1865), as ice used to refrigerate freight
cars, it also came into household use. Even before 1880, half the ice sold in New York,
Philadelphia, and Baltimore, and one-third oof that sold in Boston and Chicago, went to
families for their own use. This had become possible because a new household
convenience, the icebox, a precursor of the modern refrigerator, had been invented.

£ £ £ Making an efficient icebox was not as easy as we might now suppose. In the early
nineteenth century, the knowledge of the physics of heat, which was essential to a
science of refrigeration, was rudimentary. The commonsense notion that the best
icebox was one that prevented the ice from melting was of course mistaken, for it was
the melting of the ice that performed the cooling. Nevertheless, early efforts to
economize ice included wrapping the ice in blankets, which kept the ice from doing its
job. Not until near the end of the nineteenth century did inventors achieve the delicate
balance of insulation and circulation needed for an efficient icebox.

£ £ £ But as early as 1803, an ingenious Maryland farmer. Thomas Moore, had been on
the right track. He owned a farm about twenty miles outside the city of washington, for
which the village of Georgetown was the market center. When he used an iceb ox of his
own design to transport his butter to market, he found that customers would pass up the
rapidly melting stuff in the tubs of his competitors to pay a premium price for his
butter, still fresh and hard in neat, one-pound bricks. One advantage of his icebox,
Moore explained, was that farmers would no longer have to travel to market at night in
order to keep their produce cool.

10. What does the passage mainly discuss?
(A) The influence of ice on the diet
(B) The development of refrigeration
(C) The transportation of goods to market
(D) Sources of ice in the nineteenth century

11. According to the passage, when did the word "icebox" become part of the language of the United States?
(A) In 1803
(B) Sometime before 1850
(C) During the Civil War
(D) Near the end of the nineteenth century

12. The phrase "forward-looking" in line 4 is closest in meaning to
(A) progressive
(B) popular
(C) thrifty
(D) well-established

13. The author mentions fish in line 5 because
(A) many fish dealers also sold ice
(B) fish was shipped in refrigerated freight cars
(C) fish dealers were among the early commercial users of ice
(D) fish was not part of the ordinary person s diet before the invention of the icebox

14. The word "it" in line 6 refers to
(A) fresh meat
(B) the Civil War
(C) ice
(D) a refrigerator

15. According to the passage, which of the following was an obstacle to the deveopment of the
icebox?
(A) Competition among the owners of refrigerated freight cars
(B) The lack of a network for the distribution of ice
(C) The use of insufficient insulation
(D) Inadequate understanding of physics

16. The word "rudimentary" in line 12 is closest in meaning to
(A) growing
(B) undeveloped
(C) necessary
(D) uninteresting

17. According to the information in the second paragraph, an ideal i cebox would
(A) completely prevent ice from melting
(B) stop air from circulating
(C) allow ice to melt slowly
(D) use blankets to conserve ice

18 The author describes Thomas Moore as having been "on the right track" (line 18-19) to indicate
that
(A) the road to the market passed close to Moore s farm
(B) Moore was an honest merchant
(C) Moore was a prosperous farmer
(D) Moore s design was fairly successful

19. According to the passage, Moore s icebox allowed him to
(A) charge more for his butter
(B) travel to market at night
(C) manufacture butter more quickly
(D) produce ice all year round

20. The "produce" mentioned in line 25 could include
(A) iceboxes
(B) butter
(C) ice
(D) markets

Question 21-30

£ £ £ Aside from perpetuating itself, the sole purpose of the American Academy and
Instiute of Arts and Letters is to "foster, assist and sustain an interest" in literature,
music, and art. This it does by enthusiastically handing out money. Annual cash awards
are given to deserving artists in various categories of creativity: architecture, musical
composition, theater, novels, serious poetry, light verse,painting,sculpture. One award
subsidizes a promising American writer s visit to Rome. There is even an award for a
very good work of fiction that falled commercially-once won by the young John
Updike for The poorhouse Fair and, more recently, by Alice Walker for In Love and
Trouble.

£ £ £ The awards and prizes total about $750,000 a year, but most of them range in size
from $5,000 to $12,500, a welcome sum to many young practitioners whose work may
not bring in that much in a year. One of the advantages of the awards is that

[1] [2] [3] ÏÂÒ»Ò³