Section 2: Reading Comprehension (30 points)
In this section you will find after each of the passages a number of questions
or unfinished statements about the passage, each with 4 (A, B, C and D)
choices to answer the question or complete the statement. You must choose
the one which you think fits best. Blacken the corresponding letter as
required on your Machine-scoring ANSWER SHEET.
Questions 61-70 are based on the following passage.
Next door to a lunch counter advertising a grilled cheese special is a gallery
where Van Gogh’s “Irises” shares the walls with Monet landscapes and works
from the Italian Renaissance.
They are all fakes. They are all for sale. “A forger? Yes. We’re expert forgers
you could say. But we make no attempt to deceive. We don’t pretend to sell
original works. We have all the thrill of being a forger, but no risk.”
With prices for original art rising into the tens of millions, some art lovers are
turning to high-quality copies done by expert artists . In addition, some museums
confronting skyrocketing insurance premiums are considering stashing the
authentic pieces and displaying a reproduction.
No major U.S. art museum is known to be displaying reproductions in place
of originals. Such a practice would raise questions about why people visit
museums in the first place. But museum security has become a growing concern.
Bids for paintings have climbed at auction houses. But prices for fakes run
only from about $1,000 to $10,000 for paintings of paintings, depending on the
size and complexity of the original.
In Europe where copying masterpieces is a centuries-old craft, painters often
use pigments and brushes typical of the period of the original. The painting is
placed in a frame closely resembling its era. Sometimes the gallery purchases
17th century furniture to use the wood for frames. The final step is the antiquing
process using chemicals and heat and humidity. “We can make special types of
cracks from little spider-web types to long splits.”
61. This passage is most probably taken out of a/an ________.
A. court confession by a person suspected of making fakes
B. commercial advertisement for a new profession in arts
C. feature story in a newspaper, magazine, or a web page
D. industrial profile for a museum promoting a new show
62. The word “Monet” underlined in Paragraph 1 refers to a ________.
A. master artist
C. famous dealer
B. master forger
D. rich collector
63. Both quotes in the passage are probably from a person who is a/an ________.
A. master artist
C. museum director
B. art piece forger
D. artworks thief
64. The third sentence in the last paragraph implies that the gallery ________.
A. carries 17th-century furniture as sideline exhibits
B. is part of the process in making fake paintings
C. provides the space only for forgers to produce fakes
D. manufactures wooden frames for paintings as a sideline
65. Obviously, the phrase “expert artists” underlined in Paragraph 3 refers to
people who are ________.
A. experts in evaluating art works
B. painters decorating the museums
C. makers of faked famous paintings
D. experts who can identify forgeries
66. “Such a practice” underlined in Paragraph 4 refers to the display of ________.
A. forged works in place of genuine artwork
B. original productions in place of their copies
C. both fake productions and original paintings
D. real reproductions and original masterpieces
67. According to the passage, the word “stashing” underlined in Paragraph 3 is
synonymous with ________.
A. slashing
C. stacking
B. smashing
D. storing
68. As repeatedly stated in the passage, ________ was certainly the major reason
why forgeries are sold.
A. insurance
C. quality
B. security
D. price
69. The word “copies” underlined in Paragraph 3 does NOT refer to ________.
A. fakes
C. reproductions
B. forges
D. non-authentic works
70. According to this passage, which of the following statements is true?
A. The works on display are meant to sell as originals.
B. The works meant to sell as originals are on display.
C. Here you may purchase a masterpiece for $1,020.
D. Here one may buy fast food any time and eat it there.
Questions 71-80 are based on the following passage.
No revolutions in technology have as visibly marked the human condition as
those in transport. Moving goods and people, they have opened continents,
transformed living standards, spread diseases, fashions and folk around the world.
Yet technologies to transport ideas and information across long distances have
arguably achieved even more: they have spread knowledge, the basis of economic
growth.
The most basic of all these, the written word, was already ancient by 1000.
By then China had, in basic form, the printing press, using carved woodblocks.
But the key to its future, movable metal type, was four centuries away. The
Chinese were hampered by their thousands of ideograms. Even so, they quite soon
invented the primitive movable type, made of clay, and by the 13th century they
had the movable wooden type. But the real secret was the use of an easily cast
metal.
When it came, Europe — aided by simple Western alphabets — leapt
forward with it. One reason why Asia’s civilizations, in 1000 far ahead of
Europe’s, then fell behind was that they lacked the technology to reproduce and
diffuse ideas. On Johannes Gutenberg’s invention in the 1440s were built not just
the Reformation and the Enlightenment, but Europe’s agricultural and industrial
revolutions too.
Yet information technology on its own would not have got far. Literally:
better transport technology too was needed. That was not lacking, but here the big
change came much later: it was railways and steamships that first allowed the
speedy, widespread dissemination of news and ideas over long distances. And
both technologies in turn required people and organizations to develop their use.
They got them: for individual communication, the postal service; for wider
publics, the publishing industry.
Throughout the 19th century, the postal service formed the bedrock of
national and international communications. Crucial to its growth had been the
introduction of the stamp, combined with a low price, and payment by the sender.
Britain put all three of these ideas into effect in 1840.
By then, the world’s mail was taking off. It changed the world. Merchants in
America’s eastern cities used it to gather information, enraging far-off cotton
growers and farmers, who found that New Yorkers knew more about crop prices
than they did. In the American debate about slavery, it offered abolitionists a
low-cost way to spread their views, just as later technologies have cut the cost and
widened the scope of political lobbying. The post helped too to integrate the
American nation, tying the newly opened west to the settled east.
Everywhere, its development drove and was driven by those of transport. In
Britain, travellers rode by mail coach to posting inns. In America, the post
subsidized road-building. Indeed, argues Dan Schiller, a professor of
communications at the University of California, it was the connection between the
post, transport and national integration that ensured that the mail remained a
public enterprise even in the United States, its first and only government-run
communications medium, and until at least the 1870s, the biggest organization in
the land.
The change has not only been one of speed and distance, though, but of
audience. About 200 years ago, a man’s words could reach no further than his
voice, not just in range but in whom they reached. But, for some purposes,
efficient communication is mass communication, regular, cheap, quick and
reliable. When it became possible, it transformed the world.
71. According to the passage, which of the following statements is true?
A. Transporting goods and people is the most important technology in the
history of mankind.
B. Technology in transporting goods and people has changed human
conditions more than anything else.
C. Technology in spreading information has changed human conditions more
than transportation technology.
D. Technology in spreading information can’t change the economic
development of society.
72. According to the passage, Asian civilizations, which were ahead of Europe’s,
fell behind because ________.
A. Asian languages were more difficult to learn
B. European languages had simple alphabets
C. they didn’t have the technology to spread ideas
D. people’s communication skills were not good enough
73. Johannes Gutenberg’s invention probably refers to ________.
A. printing technology
B. transportation technology
C. the Reformation and the Enlightenment
D. industrial revolution
74. The word “dissemination” underlined in Paragraph 4 means ________.
A. plantation
C. reception
B. distribution
D. direction
75. Which of the following statements is NOT true about the postal service?
A. American abortionists were not happy about it.
B. The stamp was invented in Britain.
C. It helped the independence of America.
D. In the 1840s it was the major means of national communications in Britain.
76. What can the postal service do?
A. Colleting market prices of goods.
C. Promoting political lobbying.
B. Spreading ideas at a low cost.
D. All of the above.
77. In the United States, the postal service belongs to ________.
A. a private company
C. road-building enterprises
B. the government
D. national integration
78. The words “its development” underlined in Paragraph 7 refer to the
development of ________.
A. the American nation
C. road building
B. the mail coach
D. the postal service
79. The words “the change” underlined in Paragraph 8 refer to ________.
A. time change
C. change in spreading ideas
B. technology change
D. change of human abilities
80. Which of the following statements is NOT true about mass communication?
A. It can reach no further than human voice.
B. It can reach a large audience.
C. It is rapid and efficient.
D. It can be trusted.
Questions 81-90 are based on the following passage.
Is test anxiety destructive? Can we make test anxiety work for us? The
answer to both of these questions is yes. Test anxiety often interferes with student
performance but this same test anxiety, if channeled correctly, can help improve
performance.
In order to lessen the destructive elements of test anxiety, the approach
should be to develop improved confidence and knowledge. As your knowledge of
the course material increases, your confidence in your ability to succeed will
increase. As your confidence increases, your anxiety will go down, allowing your
knowledge to come through more efficiently. The way you prepare for a test can
reduce anxiety during the test.
You will be surprised how confident you will feel if you know the material.
Studies of memory show if you want to be able to recall information from text or
lecture you have to review that material several times. It is important to know
your own abilities and operate accordingly. If you know that you learn best by
listening, prepare a tape of significant material and listen to the tape.
Study partners or study groups are often useful for self-testing. Experience in
stressful situations tends to lessen anxiety in those situations. One way to help
yourself retrieve material is through the use of mnemonic codes. Learn a code that
lets you remember complex material. Developing an outline for an essay question
that you know will be on the test or memorizing a formula are forms of code
development.
Students are often frustrated by the sheer volume of material that has to be
studied in college. Many instructors conduct reviews, give hints, identify what is
important to study, use handouts or overhead transparency outlines. These
materials should be at the top of your study list. If the instructor took the time to
identify them, you should assume that they will play an important part of the test.
While knowledge acquired during test preparation can help reduce anxiety, it is
another thing to take the test itself. Following are a few suggestions to help reduce
anxiety during the test.
When I arrive at a test, I often find students flipping text pages at the last
minute trying to cram it all in at the end. You would be better off trying to relax,
meditating a little, and clearing your mind to allow yourself the ability to
concentrate on the questions that are coming.
As soon as the instructor gives you the signal to start, dump out formulas,
codes, outlines from your memory onto the test answer sheets so that you will not
have to worry about whether you will remember the codes long enough until you
get to the appropriate test question.
You can build your confidence if you go through the test and answer all of
the questions that you know first. Go back and work on those questions that need
greater analysis, or that need to be worked out or need to be guessed at and your
anxiety will not kick in until later in the test.
For those of you whose anxiety increases as study and preparation increase,
your goal should be to start concentrating on things that take your mind off the
test, i.e., television, books, hobbies, movies, etc. Meditation and aerobic exercise
have proven to be very useful methods for reducing undesirable effects of stress.
The solution to reducing the destructive influences of stress is to plan to
study. Map out a schedule of when you will study each day. Identify the specific
topics that you will study each day. Identify the areas of the material that you have
had problems with and study those. Your plan should include reading the text
material, reviewing notes and homework assignments, identifying material that
needs further explanation, developing codes for memory material and testing
yourself. Once you have studied adequately, your confidence will be fairly high,
your knowledge will be satisfactory to do well on the test and the stomach
butterflies will help you focus on the task at hand.
I’d wish you good luck on finals, but you and I both know that the more
effectively you study, the luckier you will get.
81. The word “channeled” underlined in Paragraph 1 means ________.
A. directed
C. run
B. used
D. passed
82. Which of the following statements is NOT mentioned as a good side of the
test anxiety?
A. It can help improve performance if channeled correctly.
B. It motivates us to study and prepare for the exam.
C. It can help us to concentrate.
D. It can always ensure us a good score in the test.
83. What is the relationship between knowledge and confidence and test anxiety?
A. As your knowledge of the course material increases, your confidence in
your ability to succeed will increase.
B. As your test anxiety increases, your knowledge and confidence will
increase.
C. As your confidence increases, your anxiety will go down, allowing your
knowledge to come through more effectively.
D. Both A and C.
84. Which of the following test preparation ways cannot help one reduce anxiety
during the test?
A. You should know your own abilities and operate accordingly and learn as
much as you can.
B. Study partners or study groups are useful for self-testing.
C. You can retrieve materials by using mnemonic codes.
D. You should pay more attention to the materials identified by the teacher.
85. What should be at the top of your study list when you prepare a test?
A. The most complex materials.
B. The questions asked by students.
C. The materials reviewed and hints given by the teacher.
D. The materials mastered by most students.
86. The suggestions to help reduce anxiety during the test are ________.
A. relaxing, mnemonic codes and easy questions first
B. relaxing, dumping and easy questions first
C. relaxing, easy questions first and extreme anxiety
D. aerobic exercise, relax and dumping
87. According to the passage, useful means for reducing undesirable effects of
stress are ________.
A. knowledge and confidence
B. learning ability and instructor’s hints
C. meditation and aerobic exercise
D. rest and meditation
88. The author’s attitude toward reducing the test anxiety is ________.
A. negative
C. neutral
B. positive
D. pessimistic
89. According to the passage, your study plan probably does NOT include
________.
A. identifying the areas of the material that you have had problems with
B. identifying the specific topics that you’ll study each day
C. mapping out a schedule of when you’ll study each day
D. mapping out a schedule of when you will meditate and do aerobic exercise
90. What’s the main idea of the passage?
A. It introduces some benefits of test anxiety and useful methods to reduce test
anxiety.
B. Test anxiety is our foe, not friend.
C. The confidence and knowledge can reduce test anxiety.
D. Focus on your task at hand and you’ll not have the problem of test anxiety.
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