talk as if inner mental states existed in order: A) to demonstrate the weakness of some scientific
theories.
B) to provide an example of the application of natural law to human behavior.
C) to illustrate the persistence of beliefs that conflict with scientific theories.
D) to support the claim that behaviorism is a very new research tradition.
Passage IV
Approximately 65 million years ago, at the boundary between the Cretaceous and Tertiary geological periods (the K-T boundary), there was a large-scale and rapid extinction of plants and animals, including the dinosaurs. The discovery of high levels of the element iridium in rocks laid down at this time led to the proposal that an asteroid or a comet struck Earth, leading to the extinctions. This scenario proposes that the impact of the interplanetary object filled Earth’s atmosphere with dust and smoke, blocking out sunlight and lowering temperatures. The resulting “winter” would have had dire ecological consequences,
including slowing plant growth. However, in the case of the K-T boundary, some scientists have expressed doubt that the dust could have made Earth cold enough for a long enough period to cause the massive
extinctions observed.
These doubts have led to a search for other possibly disastrous atmospheric effects of a collision between a celestial object and Earth. One might involve
sedimentary rocks rich in carbonates, which are found in shallow ocean beds or on dry land that was once under the ocean. If an asteroid with a radius of 50 km struck a 4-km thick carbonate layer, there would be a significant release of carbon dioxide (CO2) into the
atmosphere, enough to raise the atmospheric concentration of CO2 about a hundredfold.
When sunlight hits Earth, a significant portion of its heat is radiated out into the atmosphere. Atmospheric CO2 absorbs the heat that is radiated from Earth and
radiates it back to Earth. This warming is called the greenhouse effect. Over the past century, atmospheric CO2 has increased, primarily due to the burning of
fossil fuels such as coal and oil. Projections of future fuel usage have prompted many experts to be
concerned about further increases in atmospheric CO2
because these increases could lead to global warming and significant climatic changes. The temperature increases projected by some for the next century are on the order of 2°C to 4°C. Atmospheric modeling
indicates that such increases could lead to, among other effects, a partial melting of the polar ice caps, causing flooding of low-lying coastal areas.
at the K-T boundary. A hundredfold increase in CO2
would lead to an increase of 20°C in global
temperature within ten days. A smaller impact, such as an asteroid with a radius of 10 km hitting 2-km thick layer of carbonate rock, would lead to a warming of 5°C in the same period of time. Because of the slow mixing of atmospheric CO2, these increases in CO2
would persist for 10,000 years.
The ecological effects of such rapid, significant, and persistent global warming would have been profound. For example, CO2 is less soluble in water as the
temperature rises. Therefore, as the temperature of the upper ocean rose, its dissolved CO2 concentration
would have decreased, and this decrease would have inhibited the growth of marine algae. Because these tiny plants are at the base of the oceanic food chain, many marine species would have become extinct. On land, the elevated temperatures would have disrupted weather patterns and thus the growth of land plants which form the basis of terrestrial food chains. Thus, global warming could have led to the extinction of the dinosaurs.
100. Evidence shows that at the K-T boundary, many
species of fish became extinct within a short time. This fact tends to support the hypothesis concerning increased CO2 because:
A) dissolved CO2 is poisonous to fish.
B) fish would die because of the increased dust in the water.
C) fish eat algae, which would flourish as atmospheric CO2 increased.
101. It is possible to measure the amount of dissolved
CO2 that was present at the K-T boundary by
examining cores of ice deep in the polar ice sheets. Such information would be relevant to the CO2 theory presented in the passage because it
would:
A ) indicate whether CO2 levels had changed
significantly.
B ) show that oceanic CO2 levels rose at the K-T
boundary.
C) prove that an asteroid had struck Earth.
D ) prove that dust did not cause climatic change at the time.
102. According to passage information, what would
happen if an asteroid 10 km in diameter hit Earth in the deepest part of the ocean?
A ) Global temperatures would rise by 5°C. B ) Large-scale extinctions of species would occur. C) Only aquatic species would become extinct. D ) The passage does not address this possibility.
103. Which of the following scientific advances would
most seriously challenge the hypothesis involving increased levels of CO2?
A ) The dating of a major asteroid impact on carbonate rock not followed by a climatic change
B ) Proof of high iridium levels at the K-T boundary C) Further correlation of increased CO2 with global
warming
D ) Confirmation of increases in global CO2 without an
asteroid impact
104. In the late nineteenth century a volcano erupted,
spewing massive amounts of ash into the air. According to the passage, this event could have led to:
A ) decreases in carbonate rocks. B ) excess sunlight reaching Earth. C) temporary global cooling. D ) increases in atmospheric CO2.
105. Which of the following assertions is most clearly
a thesis presented by the author?
A) No species can survive in high levels of CO2.
B) Rapid temperature increases can occur if there is dust in the air.
C) Marine species are less sensitive to CO2
concentrations than are terrestrial species.
D) Extinctions at the K-T boundary may have occurred in part because a large celestial object hit Earth.
106. If the hypothesis of the passage is correct, one
should find that at the K-T boundary: A) sea levels rose.
B) excess iridium was not present. C) no large-scale extinctions occurred.
D) the atmosphere was of constant composition.
107. Which of the following suppositions is most
clearly believed by the author?
A) Dinosaurs lived near the site of an asteroid impact. B) Many species died of starvation at the K-T
boundary.
C) Dust did not fill the air after an asteroid impact. D) Marine food chains are not dependent on CO2.
Passage V
From 1890, when he was nine, Picasso’s family saved virtually every scrap of paper on which he drew. Harbingers of Picasso’s later genius appear in fragmented and distorted aspects of form and scale, depictions garlanded by numerical and alphabetical symbols, a proliferation of trompe l’oeil, visual puns, outrageous caricatures, incongruous juxtapositions, and the like. We do not know whether Picasso
consciously thought back to these graphic experiments when, two decades later, he and Georges Braque were inventing cubism, but at least at an unconscious level, Picasso could tap this reservoir of youthful
experimentation.
The standard story told of Picasso is that his precocious talent enabled him to surpass, without effort, all other artists in his milieu. It is worth considering Picasso’s own opinion that what is often considered early genius is actually the naïveté of childhood. “It disappears at a certain age without leaving traces.” It is possible that a young child who shows unusual flair will one day become an artist, but he or she “will have to begin again from the beginning. I did not have this genius. For example, my first
drawings could not have been hung in a display of children’s work. These pictures lacked
childlikeness. . . . At a youthful age I painted in a quite academic way, so literal and precise that I am shocked today.” At an exhibition of children’s art, Picasso once quipped, “When I was their age, I could draw like Raphael, but it has taken me a whole lifetime to learn to draw like them.”
In such remarks, Picasso exalted children’s
productions but also distanced his youthful self from the romantic view of artistic talent. It is true that the works preserved by Picasso’s family support the notion of Picasso as an aspiring academic painter (as his father was) and not as a charming naïf. However, we lack drawings by Picasso from his first eight years and so cannot determine the resemblance of his earliest efforts to those of other children. Moreover, his youthful caprices and marginalia may have been as crucial in his artistic development as his formally conceived early paintings. My own conclusion is that Picasso’s output during the first decade of his life was
that no word short of prodigy can describe him in his spectacular progress over the next several years.
Apollinaire asserted that there were two kinds of artists: the unreflective virtuoso, who relies on nature, and the cerebral structurer, who relies on understanding. Mozart could serve as prototype for the first, Beethoven for the second. As a prodigy, Picasso epitomized the second type, but, said Apollinaire, he was able to convert himself into the first. “Never has there been so fantastic a spectacle as the
metamorphosis he underwent in becoming an artist of the first type.” Picasso himself sensed the paradox of this transformation when he complained to Gertrude Stein, “If I can draw as well as Raphael, I have at least the right to choose my way, and they should recognize that right, but no, they say no.”
The Portrait of Gertrude Stein (1906) stands out as an indicator of this transformation: Picasso asked his subject to remain for over eighty sittings. Then he went away for the summer, annihilated the recognizable facial features, and finished the portrait away from Stein, substituting masklike features for realistic ones. (Chastised because the portrait did not look like Stein, Picasso reportedly responded with one of the notable artistic one-liners of the century: “Don’t worry, it will.”)
Material used in this test passage has been adapted from the following source:
H. Gardner, Creating Minds. ©1993 by H. Gardner.
108. According to the author, Picasso’s artistic
achievements were in large part the result of his: A) retention of the effortless genius of childhood. B) rejection of the art movements of his time. C) practice of making multiple revisions and
amendments.
D) learning to work with apparent spontaneity.
109. The word nature is used in the sense of:
A) objects and scenes of the natural world. B) elementary aesthetic principles.
110. What is the author’s response to the standard
story about the origin of Picasso’s genius? A ) Acceptance: Picasso’s early drawings are described
as unusually skilled and his progress as spectacular. B ) Neutral: It is mentioned only to introduce the
discussion of Picasso’s eventual virtuosity. C) Revisionist: It is presented as applicable only to
Picasso’s earliest efforts.
D ) Skepticism: Picasso’s earliest drawings are presumed to be not especially precocious.
111. The assertion that Picasso’s early productions
contain harbingers of his later art is NOT clearly consistent with the information about:
A ) the way Picasso described his first drawings. B ) the distortions of form and scale in these works. C) the lack of drawings from his first eight years. D ) the playfulness of his graphic experimentation.
112. Which of the following innovative forms of art
that are identified with Picasso most clearly exemplifies his own implied goals?
A ) Sculptures constructed of various surprising “found objects”
B ) “Blue period” paintings with muted colors and elongated figures
C) Plates decorated with boldly colored, simply indicated faces
D ) Single-tone paintings with “hard-edged” multifaceted perspectives
113. Which passage information provides the
strongest reason to suppose that Picasso had always been an artist of Apollinaire’s first type? A ) Picasso quipped that as a child he could draw as
well as Raphael.
B ) Picasso’s early drawings indicate exuberant experimentation.
C) Picasso wrote that in his youth he painted “in a quite academic way.”
D ) Picasso revised his portrait of Gertrude Stein from memory.
114. The author’s characterization of Picasso’s artistic
aims suggests that the retort, “Don’t worry, it will” meant that the painting:
A) was intended to portray Stein as she would probably look in old age.
B) would become a more accurate portrait as Picasso continued to work on it.
C) was concerned with pictorial qualities other than a literally accurate likeness.
D) was an attempt to teach viewers to look at portraits in a more analytic way.
115. A novel that would best represent the literary
style of a reflective “cerebral structurer” would probably have:
A) many layers of meaning. B) great emotional power. C) terse, realistic dialogue. D) universally symbolic images.
116. Assume that an art historian discovers scores of
drawings done by Picasso between the ages of four and eight and that they resemble those of many children of artists. What is the relevance of this discovery to the author’s views about
Picasso’s development?
A ) It strengthens them by demonstrating that Picasso’s mature work reverted to the level of his first
drawings.
B ) It is consistent with them because the author suggests that Picasso became a prodigy only after age nine.
C) It weakens them by showing that the transition to a cerebral structurer took place sooner than the author assumes.
D ) It weakens them by supporting Picasso’s own assessment of his first drawings.
117. Which of the following assertions is the most
effective argument against Picasso’s statement that to become an artist, one “will have to begin again from the beginning”?
A ) The supposed genius of children’s art is really an appealing naïveté.
B ) The productions of childhood have left unconscious traces on which an artist can build.
C) Some untrained artists produce only paintings with a childlike quality.
D ) Some widely admired painters produce work that is quite academic and unimaginative.
Passage VI
One of the hottest topics in anthropology today centers around the place of the mysterious Neandertals on the human family tree. These people lived at the juncture between the demise of Homo erectus and the advent of
Homo sapiens sapiens, our own species.
What role the Neandertals played in this transition has been the subject of long and contentious debate among anthropologists. Call them Homo sapiens
neanderthalensis and acknowledge them as direct
ancestors of modern humans? Or type them as Homo
neanderthalensis and more distant relatives, members
of a separate species outside our direct ancestry?
If someone were to meet a Neandertal on the New York subway, he or she would be struck by the size and protrusion of the nose, the prominent ridges above the eyes, and the distinct absence of a chin. In addition, the forehead was much flatter and the skull longer, and although not readily apparent to fellow passengers, the bones of the skull would be much thicker than those in modern humans. What was inside that long, low cranium is the key to what it was to be a Neandertal. If quantity was the only measure, then the Neandertal’s apparent mental powers were impressive, because the average brain size was larger than a modern
human’s—about 1,400 cc as compared with 1,360 cc.
Some clues to their potential “humanness” do exist. For the first time in history, the Neandertal people performed ritual burials—a uniquely human activity. At the site of Le Moustier in France, the body of a Neandertal teenager was apparently lowered into a pit, where he was placed on his right side, his head resting on his forearm, as if asleep. Around the body were scattered the bones of a wild cow. Some prehistorians speculate that these bones were covered with meat at the time of the boy’s burial and were included as sustenance for his journey to the next world.
The evolution of the Neandertals was a gradual affair, with roots going back at least 200,000 and maybe even
Age, and in many ways their anatomy reflects adaptations to cold climes.
Subsistence for these people must have been
demanding, particularly for those on the tundra of ice- bound Eurasia. Reindeer, wooly rhinos, and mammoth provided not only meat but also hide for clothing and bone for building shelters, as wood and other plant resources were scarce or absent. The resourceful Neandertals also manufactured a wide range of artifacts with which to tackle their daily chores.
Stone tools clearly signal the pace of change in human prehistory. For the million years after the appearance of tools in the record, they remained crude in structure and limited in variety: choppers, scrapers, and flakes. Only about 200,000 years ago did the pace begin to change. The Levallois technique was developed, enabling toolmakers to produce several large flakes from a single lump of rock. When the Neandertals came onto the scene, they further refined this technique. Nevertheless, no further innovations were introduced for more than 50,000 years, when the modern human era began.
Material used in this test passage has been adapted from the following source:
R. Lewin, In the Age of Mankind. ©1988 by The Smithsonian Institution.
118. The author implies that the primary significance
of Neandertals is their: A) uncertain classification. B) position as premodern humans. C) use of stone tools.
D) burial of the dead.
119. The statement that stone tools “signal the pace of
change in human prehistory” means that: A) stone tools indicate the need for a more advanced
technology.
120. A form of Homo erectus with apelike features
and standing three feet tall lived in Ethiopia 700,000 years before Neandertals appeared. This information increases the likelihood of which of the following answers to the author’s question about the place of Neandertals on the “human family tree”?
A ) Homo sapiens sapiens and Neandertals have a common ancestor.
B ) Neandertals are the “missing link” between apes and humans.
C) Multiple human family trees exist.
D ) Neandertals are the direct ancestors of humans.
121. The author claims that the Neandertals were
resourceful in manufacturing artifacts. The support offered for this conclusion is: A ) weak; their tools remained few and crude. B ) weak; no examples of their tools are given. C) strong; their impressive intelligence implies
resourcefulness.
D ) strong; they invented the Levallois technique of toolmaking.
122. If the author’s primary criterion for judging the
“humanness” of Neandertals were applied to computers, which of the following systems would be most human?
A ) A mainline computer with a very large capacity B ) An assembly-line robot that uses tools to make
tools
C) A weapons system that locates and destroys specified targets
D ) A child’s toy that is programmed to recite religious verses
Passage VII
Rita Dove’s Pulitzer-Prize-winning volume of poems,
Thomas and Beulah, is divided into two almost equal
parts called “Mandolin” and “Canary in Bloom.” The collection presents not only the single most important events and the resultant mind-sets in the separate lives of Thomas and Beulah but also the significant events of their shared lives from their different perspectives.
“The Event” (from “Mandolin”) presents the night when Thomas and his friend Lem, both drunk, leaned on the rail of a river boat. Thomas challenged Lem to swim to an island, resulting in Lem’s death. “Taking in Wash” (from “Canary in Bloom”) presents Beulah’s memory of the tension between her mother and father.
The shaping events of Thomas’s and Beulah’s lives create or contribute to psychological mind-sets