有木有潜伏在G版的托福党啊，寻找托福口语小伙伴啊！！

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艾小卉 发表于 2015-6-1 15:47
想问一下，你每天大概做多少篇阅读呢？

不一定，目前最高纪录是6篇T_T

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2015.6.3 comprehension note!

No. 2-1
SECTION A
Extended debate concerning the exact point of origin of individual folktales told by Afro-American slaves has unfortunately taken precedence over analysis of the tales’ meaning and function. Cultural continuities with Africa were not dependent on importation and perpetuation of specific folktales in their pristine form. It is in the place that tales occupied in the lives of the slaves and in the meaning slaves derived from them that the clearest resemblances to African tradition can be found. Afro-American slaves did not borrow tales indiscriminately from the Whites among whom they lived. Black people were most influenced by those Euro-American tales whose functional meaning and aesthetic appeal had the greatest similarity to the tales with deep roots in their ancestral homeland. Regardless of where slave tales came from, the essential point is that, with respect to language, delivery, details of characterization, and plot, slaves quickly made them their own.
Translation: 关于非裔美国奴隶讲述的个人民谣精准的起源的旷日持久的讨论，很不幸的，（竟然）超过了关于分析其含义和功能（的讨论）。有关非洲文化的延续性并不是依赖于以原始形式传播特定的民谣。相反，这种文化的延续性最能在这些民谣占据着的奴隶生活中的部分和奴隶们从中得到的启发中找到相似点。非裔美国奴隶并不会不加辨别的从和他们生活在一起的白人那里照搬民谣。（相反），黑人最容易被欧裔美国人的民谣所影响，因为欧裔美国人的民谣的功能和美学魅力与那些根植在他们祖国土地的民谣最为相似。不论奴隶们的民谣是从哪里得来的，核心的要点是他们是如何在尊重语言、传承、人物细节和情节的基础上将这些民谣归为己用。
I finally understand this passage after translating it exquisitely.
17.        The author claims that most studies of folktales told by Afro-American slaves are inadequate because the studies
(A) fail to recognize any possible Euro-American influence on the folktales
Narrow the scope
(B) do not pay enough attention to the features of a folktale that best reveal an African influence
Right: Extended debate concerning the exact point of origin of individual folktales told by Afro-American slaves has unfortunately taken precedence over analysis of the tales’ meaning and function.
Pay more attention to the origin instead of the function = features
(C) overestimate the number of folktales brought from Africa by the slaves
Not mentioned the number
(D) do not consider the fact that a folktale can be changed as it is retold many times
(E) oversimplify the diverse and complex traditions of the slaves ancestral homeland
Not mentioned
18.        The author’s main purpose is to
(A) create a new field of study
Not to create a new…
(B) discredit an existing field of study
Not discrediting, but redressing
(C) change the focus of a field of study
exactly
(D) transplant scholarly techniques from one field of study to another
(E) restrict the scope of a burgeoning new field of study
Not restricting
19.        The passage suggests that the author would regard which of the following areas of inquiry as most likely to reveal the slaves’ cultural continuities with Africa?
(A) The means by which Blacks disseminated their folktales in nineteenth-century America
Not the means of disseminating, but the function and meaning of the folktales themselves
(B) Specific regional differences in the styles of delivery used by the slaves in telling folktales
Not the styles of delivery, but the content
(C) The functional meaning of Black folktales in the lives of White children raised by slave
Not related to white children
(D) The specific way the slaves used folktales to impart moral teaching to their childrenRelative sentence: It is in the place that tales occupied in the lives of the slaves and in the meaning slaves derived from them that the clearest resemblances to African tradition can be found.
The meaning slaves derived from the folktales = moral teaching
(E) The complexities of plot that appear most frequently in the slaves’ tales
Not mentioned complexities
20.        Which of the following techniques is used by the author in developing the argument in the passage?
(A) Giving a cliché a new meaning
(B) Pointedly refusing to define key terms
(C) Alternately presenting generalities and concrete details
(D) Concluding the passage with a restatement of the first point made in the passage
(E) Juxtaposing statements of what is not the case and statements of what is the case
Exactly: Cultural continuities … were not …. It is in the place … and in the meaning… Afro-American slaves did not … Black people were most influenced…

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2015.6.6 comprehension note!

“Popular art” has a number of meanings, impossible to define with any precision, which range from folklore to junk. The poles are clear enough, but the middle tends to blur.(IC①) The Hollywood Western of the 1930’s, for example, has elements of folklore, but is closer to junk than to high art or folk art.(e.g. for IC①) There can be great trash, just as there is bad high art.(IC②) The musicals of George Gershwin are great popular art, never aspiring to high art. Schubert and Brahms, however, used elements of popular music—folk themes—in works clearly intended as high art. The case of Verdi is a different one: he took a popular genre—bourgeois melodrama set to music (an accurate definition of nineteenth-century opera)—and, without altering its fundamental nature, transmuted it into high art.(3 e.g. for IC②) This remains one of the greatest achievements in music, and one that cannot be fully appreciated without recognizing the essential trashiness of the genre.(conclusion)
As an example of such a transmutation, consider what Verdi made of the typical political elements of nineteenth-century opera. Generally in the plots of these operas, a hero or heroine—usually portrayed only as an individual, unfettered by class—is caught between the immoral corruption of the aristocracy and the doctrinaire rigidity or secret greed of the leaders of the proletariat. Verdi transforms this naive and unlikely formulation with music of extraordinary energy and rhythmic vitality, music more subtle than it seems at first hearing. There are scenes and arias that still sound like calls to arms and were clearly understood as such when they were first performed. Such pieces lend an immediacy to the otherwise veiled political message of these operas and call up feelings beyond those of the opera itself.
Or consider Verdi’s treatment of character. Before Verdi, there were rarely any characters at all in musical drama, only a series of situations which allowed the singers to express a series of emotional states. Any attempt to find coherent psychological portrayal in these operas is misplaced ingenuity. The only coherence was the singer’s vocal technique: when the cast changed, new arias were almost always substituted, generally adapted from other operas. Verdi’s characters, on the other hand, have genuine consistency and integrity, even if, in many cases, the consistency is that of pasteboard melodrama. The integrity of the character is achieved through the music: once he had become established, Verdi did not rewrite his music for different singers or countenance alterations or substitutions of somebody else’s arias in one of his operas, as every eighteenth-century composer had done. When he revised an opera, it was only for dramatic economy and effectiveness.
21.        The author refers to Schubert and Brahms in order to suggest
(A) that their achievements are no less substantial than those of Verdi
Not mentioned this comparison
(B) that their works are examples of great trash
Wrong, they were high art
(C) the extent to which Schubert and Brahms influenced the later compositions of Verdi
Not mentioned
(D) a contrast between the conventions of nineteenth-century opera and those of other musical forms
wrong
(E) that popular music could be employed in compositions intended as high art
Right, to illustrate the sentence: There can be great trash, just as there is bad high art
22.        According to the passage, the immediacy of the political message in Verdi’s operas stems from the
(A) vitality and subtlety of the music
Verdi transforms this naive and unlikely formulation with music of extraordinary energy and rhythmic vitality, music more subtle than it seems at first hearing. There are scenes and arias … Such pieces lend an immediacy to the otherwise veiled political message of these operas
(B) audience’s familiarity with earlier operas
(C) portrayal of heightened emotional states
(D) individual talents of the singers
(E) verisimilitude of the characters
23.        According to the passage, all of the following characterize musical drama before Verdi EXCEPT:
Go find the key word: before Verdi
(A) arias tailored to a particular singer’s ability
(B) adaptation of music from other operas
(C) psychological inconsistency in the portrayal of characters
(D) expression of emotional states in a series of dramatic situations
(E) music used for the purpose of defining a character
Before Verdi, there were rarely any characters at all in musical drama, only a series of situations which allowed the singers to express a series of emotional states.
Choice E is opposite to the relative sentence, so it must be wrong
24.        It can be inferred that the author regards Verdi’s revisions to his operas with
The attitude should be positive, so A D is wrong
(A) regret that the original music and texts were altered
(B) concern that many of the revisions altered the plots of the original work
(C) approval for the intentions that motivated the revisions
(D) puzzlement, since the revisions seem largely insignificant
Contradict, it is indeed significant
(E) enthusiasm, since the revisions were aimed at reducing the conventionality of the operas’ plots
Not relative, since the revision is not about the conventionality
25.        According to the passage, one of Verdi’s achievements within the framework of nineteenth-century opera and its conventions was to
(A) limit the extent to which singers influenced the musical compositions and performance of his operas
Before Verdi, there were rarely any characters at all in musical drama, only a series of situations which allowed the singers to express a series of emotional states.
(B) use his operas primarily as forums to protest both the moral corruption and dogmatic rigidity of the political leaders of his time
Not mentioned Verdi’s protest about moral corruption
(C) portray psychologically complex characters shaped by the political environment surrounding them
Not mentioned what shaped the characters
(D) incorporate elements of folklore into both the music and plots of his operas
Contradict, the elements is consistent
(E) introduce political elements into an art form that had traditionally avoided political content
Not mentioned whether traditional art avoided political content
26.        Which of the following best describes the relationship of the first paragraph of the passage to the passage as a whole?
(A) It provides a group of specific examples from which generalizations are drawn later in the passage.
No generalizations
(B) It leads to an assertion that is supported by examples later in the passage.
Not wrong
(C) It defines terms and relationships that are challenged in an argument later in the passage.
Not challenged by
(D) It briefly compares and contrasts several achievements that are examined in detail later in the passage.
No comparison of the achievements, and the later part only talks about Verdi alone
(E) It explains a method of judging a work of art, a method that is used later in the passage.
Method is not the key point
27.        It can be inferred that the author regards the independence from social class of the heroes and heroines of nineteenth-century opera as
(A) an idealized but fundamentally accurate portrayal of bourgeois life
Contradict, the attitude should be negative
(B) a plot convention with no real connection to political reality
Relative sentence: consider what Verdi made of the typical political elements of nineteenth-century opera. Generally in the plots of these operas, a hero or heroine—usually portrayed only as an individual, unfettered by class—is caught between the immoral corruption of the aristocracy and the doctrinaire rigidity or secret greed of the leaders
The scene portrayed in the plot is sharply antithetical to the true milieu. So it probably can’t be real in reality.
(C) a plot refinement unique to Verdi
Not mentioned the uniqueness
(D) a symbolic representation of the position of the bourgeoisie relative to the aristocracy and the proletariat
Not mentioned bourgeoisie
(E) a convention largely seen as irrelevant by audiences
Not mentioned audiences

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since 2015.6.8
no interuption
no distraction

at least 10 hours studying, 1 hour violin, 1 hour sports each day
10 hours studying should include 4 hours RC, 2 hours TC and SE, 2 hours AW, 2 hours words

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2015.6.8 comprehension note!

In the fields of Delano, California, in 1965, Luis Valdez started the Teatro Campesino (Farmworker’s Theater), and with it initiated the renaissance of Mexican American theater. The Teatro Campesino had an avowedly political purpose: to rally campesinos (farmworkers) in support of the farm workers’ strike then being organized by Cesar Chavez. Valdez’ dramatic presentations, called actos, spoke to a campesino audience and addressed topics and themes directly related to the strike. Valdez’ early actos were composed of a series of scenes about the strike experience acted by campesino volunteers. His later actos were presented by a newly constituted professional company, still called the Teatro Campesino, and addressed such themes as the impact of the Vietnam War on Mexican Americans and the dangers of assimilation, themes relevant to urban Mexican Americans as well as to campesinos. All Valdez’ actos contained elements of song and dance, relied little on stage effects or props, and featured the use of masks. These dramatic elements, along with an intensely social or political purpose and the use of a mixture of Spanish, English, and Mexican American dialects in the dialogues, which realistically capture the flavor of Mexican American conversation, are still characteristic both of the acto and of most other forms of Mexican American theater today.
Innovative as it is, the acto owes much to the theater traditions of other periods and regions. Like early Spanish American religious dramas, secular folk dramas, and the Mexican carpas of a somewhat later period, actos are usually performed outdoors by traveling groups of players or by local theater groups. The improvised comic satire of the actos is often attributed to Valdez’ study of the Italian commedia dell’ arte of the sixteenth century, although some critics see it as a direct reflection of the comic and improvisational qualities of the more contemporary and local carpas of Mexican theater. The Italian influence is likely, whatever Valdez immediate source: the Mexican carpas themselves are said to have originated from the theater pieces of a sixteenth-century Spanish writer inspired by encounters with Italian commedia dell’ arte troupes on tour in Spain. The English-language theater has provided elements as well: Valdez himself has acknowledged his debt to the agitprop socialist theater that appeared in the United States during the 1920’s and 1930’s. In particular, his actos contain the same assortment of semiallegorical characters and the same blend of music, chorus, and dialogue found in some of the agitprop pieces, as well as the same fierce spirit of social and political critique. Finally, many of Valdez’ later theater pieces freely incorporate characters, plots and symbols drawn from the indigenous myths and rituals of the pre-Hispanic peoples of Latin America. In fact, no other art form illustrates more clearly the depth and complexity of the Mexican American heritage itself than does the acto of Luis Valdez and the Teatro Campesino.
21.        According to the passage, the original impetus behind the establishment of the Teatro Campesino was which of the following?
(A) To help urban Mexican Americans understand the problems confronting striking campesinos in California
This is not the original impetus, and also not mentioned in the passage
(B) To promote an attitude of pride in the depth and richness of the Mexican American heritage among striking campesinos
Not pride
(C) To provide striking campesinos an opportunity to use their creative talents to express their political opinions
Not opportunity to use talents
(D) To allow its founder to express his personal support of the campesinos’ strike effort
Not just express supporting but also support those participants
(E) To mobilize campesinos to support the farm workers’ strike in California
Right, In the fields of Delano, California
I did this wrong because I didn’t know the word “mobilize”. I though it meant move, and the context here required a word meaning “rally”
22.        The author cites all of the following as probable influences on Valdez’ development of the acto EXCEPT the
(A) theater of sixteenth-century Italy
the Mexican carpas themselves are said to have originated from the theater pieces of a sixteenth-century Spanish writer inspired by encounters with Italian commedia dell’ arte troupes on tour in Spain.
(B) carpas of Mexico
the acto owes much to the theater traditions of other periods and regions. Like early Spanish American religious dramas, secular folk dramas, and the Mexican carpas of a somewhat later period
(C) drama of classical Greece
Not mentioned Greece at all
(D) English-language theater of the United States
The English-language theater has provided elements as well
(E) myths and rituals of pre-Hispanic America
drawn from the indigenous myths and rituals of the pre-Hispanic peoples of Latin America.
23.        The passage suggests that which of the following was true of the later actos of the Teatro Campesino?
(A) They were more politically effective than were earlier actos.
Contradict, at first it served a political use, later it did not.
(B) They were presented primarily outdoors, whereas earlier actos were presented inside theaters.
Not mentioned the difference between earlier and later
(C) They used a greater mixture of dialects than did the earlier actos.
always
(D) They addressed a broader audience than did the earlier actos.
themes relevant to urban Mexican Americans as well as to campesinos.
(E) They differed from earlier actos in that they contained fewer improvisational elements.
Not mentioned
24.        Which of the following best describes the author’s evaluation of the views of the critics cited in lines 36-39?
The author truly didn’t show any direct disputation of the critics’ view, so B E is wrong
(A) Their views, if correct, do not preclude the existence of an Italian influence on the acto.
Right.
(B) Their views are unlikely to be correct, given the differences existing between Mexican and Mexican American theater.
(C) Their views concerning the Mexican carpas are essentially correct, but they lack familiarity with the acto.
Not mentioned familiarity
(D) Their views are probably more correct than the views of those who have attributed the comic and improvisational elements of the acto to earlier sources.
Not mentioned comparison
(E) Their views betray a lack of familiarity with the commedia dell’ arte.
25.        The passage suggests that which of the following explains the characteristic use of a mixture of Spanish, English, and Mexican American dialects in the works of Mexican American playwrights?
(A) Mexican American playwrights wish to include in their works elements drawn from the traditions and history of pre-Hispanic America.
mix
(B) Mexican American playwrights try to guarantee that their works are fully understood by the broadest possible audience, including those who may speak only one language.
(C) Such a linguistic mix faithfully reflects the linguistic diversity of Mexican American culture, and is easily understood by most Mexican Americans.
(D) Many Mexican American playwrights are quite familiar with both the Spanish-language and the English-language theater traditions.
(E) Many different languages are still spoken within the confines of the United States, although English is still the most common first language of its citizens.
26.        According to the passage, which of the following elements characteristic of the acto are also found in some agitprop theater pieces?
(A) The use of masks
(B) Comic improvisation
(C) An outdoor setting
(D) Minimal use of complex stage effects or props
(E) An assortment of semiallegorical characters
27.        Which of the following, if true, most strengthens the author’s argument concerning the debt of the acto to the theater traditions of other periods and regions?
(A) Many popular forms of theater rely heavily on improvisation.
(B) Plays resembling the acto in structure were written in the 1970’s by West African playwrights who are interested in dramatizing the richness of their own cultures.
(C) The use of masks has, at one time or another, been characteristic of the theater traditions of almost all cultures, even those most isolated from outside influences.
(D) During a strike, it is common for union members to present musical skits dramatizing the values of solidarity and resistance.
(E) Before 1965 Luis Valdez had attended many performances of traditional Mexican theater groups touring the western United States.
If V once joined some activities related to theater traditions = theater groups, then his debt to theater traditions is strengthened.

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2015.6.8 comprehension note!

Second time reading, still can’t understand the profound meaning and structure
The earliest controversies about the relationship between photography and art centered on whether photography’s fidelity to appearances and dependence on a machine allowed it to be a fine art as distinct from merely a practical art. Throughout the nineteenth century, the defense of photography was identical with the struggle to establish it as a fine art. Against the charge that photography was a soulless, mechanical copying of reality, photographers asserted that it was instead a privileged way of seeing, a revolt against commonplace vision, and no less worthy an art than painting.
Ironically, now that photography is securely established as a fine art, many photographers find it pretentious or irrelevant to label it as such. Serious photographers variously claim to be finding, recording, impartially observing, witnessing events, exploring themselves—anything but making works of art. In the nineteenth century, photography’s association with the real world placed it in an ambivalent relation to art; late in the twentieth century, an ambivalent relation exists because of the Modernist heritage in art. That important photographers are no longer willing to debate whether photography is or is not a fine art, except to proclaim that their own work is not involved with art, shows the extent to which they simply take for granted the concept of art imposed by the triumph of Modernism: the better the art, the more subversive it is of the traditional aims of art.
Photographers’ disclaimers of any interest in making art tell us more about the harried status of the contemporary notion of art than about whether photography is or is not art. For example, those photographers who suppose that, by taking pictures, they are getting away from the pretensions of art as exemplified by painting remind us of those Abstract Expressionist painters who imagined they were getting away from the intellectual austerity of classical Modernist painting by concentrating on the physical act of painting. Much of photography’s prestige today derives from the convergence of its aims with those of recent art, particularly with the dismissal of abstract art implicit in the phenomenon of Pop painting during the 1960’s. Appreciating photographs is a relief to sensibilities tired of the mental exertions demanded by abstract art. Classical Modernist painting—that is, abstract art as developed in different ways by Picasso, Kandinsky, and Matisse—presupposes highly developed skills of looking and a familiarity with other paintings and the history of art. Photography, like Pop painting, reassures viewers that art is not hard; photography seems to be more about its subjects than about art.
Photography, however, has developed all the anxieties and self-consciousness of a classic Modernist art. Many professionals privately have begun to worry that the promotion of photography as an activity subversive of the traditional pretensions of art has gone so far that the public will forget that photography is a distinctive and exalted activity—in short, an art.
21.        In the passage, the author is primarily concerned with
(A) defining the Modernist attitude toward art
Not the key point
(B) explaining how photography emerged as a fine art after the controversies of the nineteenth century
Narrow the scope
(C) explaining the attitudes of serious contemporary photographers toward photography as art and placing those attitudes in their historical context
right
(D) defining the various approaches that serious contemporary photographers take toward their art and assessing the value of each of those approaches
Narrow the scope
(E) identifying the ways that recent movements in painting and sculpture have influenced the techniques employed by serious photographers
Not mentioned recent movements of painting and scupture
22.        Which of the following adjectives best describes “the concept of art imposed by the triumph of Modernism” as the author represents it in lines 25-27?
(A) Objective
(B) Mechanical
(C) Superficial
(D) Dramatic
(E) Paradoxical
B D are not relative
C’s attitude is not right
23.        The author introduces Abstract Expressionist painters (lines 34) in order to
(A) provide an example of artists who, like serious contemporary photographers, disavowed traditionally accepted aims of modern art
right
(B) call attention to artists whose works often bear a physical resemblance to the works of serious contemporary photographers
Not physical resemblance
(C) set forth an analogy between the Abstract Expressionist painters and classical Modernist painters
Not related to Modernist painters
(D) provide a contrast to Pop artists and others who created works that exemplify the Modernist heritage in art
contradict
(E) provide an explanation of why serious photography, like other contemporary visual forms, is not and should not pretend to be an art
wrong
24.        According to the author, the nineteenth-century defenders of photography mentioned in the passage stressed that photography was
(A) a means of making people familiar with remote locales and unfamiliar things
(B) a technologically advanced activity
(C) a device for observing the world impartially
(D) an art comparable to painting
(E) an art that would eventually replace the traditional arts
25.        According to the passage, which of the following best explains the reaction of serious contemporary photographers to the question of whether photography is an art?
(A) The photographers’ belief that their reliance on an impersonal machine to produce their art requires the surrender of the authority of their personal vision
(B) The photographers’ fear that serious photography may not be accepted as an art by the contemporary art public
(C) The influence of Abstract Expressionist painting and Pop Art on the subject matter of the modern photograph
(D) The photographers’ belief that the best art is subversive of art as it has previously been defined
(E) The notorious difficulty of defining art in its relation to realistic representation
26.        According to the passage, certain serious contemporary photographers expressly make which of the following claims about their photographs?
(A) Their photographs could be created by almost anyone who had a camera and the time to devote to the activity.
(B) Their photographs are not examples of art but are examples of the photographers’ impartial observation of the world.
Serious photographers variously claim to be finding, recording, impartially observing, witnessing events, exploring themselves—anything but making works of art.
(C) Their photographs are important because of their subjects but not because of the responses they evoke in viewers.
(D) Their photographs exhibit the same ageless principles of form and shading that have been used in painting.
(E) Their photographs represent a conscious glorification of the mechanical aspects of twentieth-century life.
27.        It can be inferred from the passage that the author most probably considers serious contemporary photography to be a
(A) contemporary art that is struggling to be accepted as fine art
(B) craft requiring sensitivity but by no means an art
(C) mechanical copying of reality
(D) modern art that displays the Modernist tendency to try to subvert the prevailing aims of art
(E) modern art that displays the tendency of all Modernist art to become increasingly formal and abstract

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2015.6.9 comprehension note!

The historian Frederick J. Turner wrote in the 1890’s that the agrarian discontent that had been developing steadily in the United States since about 1870 had been precipitated by the closing of the internal frontier—that is, the depletion of available new land needed for further expansion of the American farming system. Not only was Turner’s thesis influential at the time, it was later adopted and elaborated by other scholars, such as John D. Hicks in The Populist Revolt (1931). Actually, however, new lands were taken up for farming in the United States throughout and beyond the nineteenth century. In the 1890’s, when agrarian discontent had become most acute, 1,100,000 new farms were settled, which was 500,000 more than had been settled during the previous decade. After 1890, under the terms of the Homestead Act and its successors, more new land was taken up for farming than had been taken up for this purpose in the United States up until that time. It is true that a high proportion of the newly farmed land was suitable only for grazing and dry farming, but agricultural practices had become sufficiently advanced to make it possible to increase the profitability of farming by utilizing even these relatively barren lands.
The emphasis given by both scholars and statesmen to the presumed disappearance of the American frontier helped to obscure the great importance of changes in the conditions and consequences of international trade that occurred during the second half of the nineteenth century. In 1869 the Suez Canal was opened and the first transcontinental railroad in the United States was completed. An extensive network of telegraph and telephone communications was spun: Europe was connected by submarine cable with the United States in 1866 and with South America in 1874. By about 1870 improvements in agricultural technology made possible the full exploitation of areas that were most suitable for extensive farming on a mechanized basis. Huge tracts of land were being settled and farmed in Argentina, Australia, Canada, and in the American West, and these areas were joined with one another and with the countries of Europe into an interdependent market system. As a consequence, agrarian depressions no longer were local or national in scope, and they struck several nations whose internal frontiers had not vanished or were not about to vanish. Between the early 1870’s and the 1890’s, the mounting agrarian discontent in America paralleled the almost uninterrupted decline in the prices of American agricultural products on foreign markets. Those staple-growing farmers in the United States who exhibited the greatest discontent were those who had become most dependent on foreign markets for the sale of their products. Insofar as Americans had been deterred from taking up new land for farming, it was because market conditions had made this period a perilous time in which to do so.
20.        The author is primarily concerned with
(A) showing that a certain interpretation is better supported by the evidence than is an alternative explanation
(B) developing an alternative interpretation by using sources of evidence that formerly had been unavailable
(C) questioning the accuracy of the evidence that most scholars have used to counter the author’s own interpretation
(D) reviewing the evidence that formerly had been thought to obscure a valid interpretation
(E) presenting evidence in support of a controversial version of an earlier interpretation
21.        According to the author, changes in the conditions of international trade resulted in an
(A) underestimation of the amount of new land that was being famed in the United States
(B) underutilization of relatively small but rich plots of land
(C) overexpansion of the world transportation network for shipping agricultural products
(D) extension of agrarian depressions beyond national boundaries
As a consequence, agrarian depressions no longer were local or national in scope,
(E) emphasis on the importance of market forces in determining the prices of agricultural products
I did this wrong because I confused the meanings of “result in” and “result from”.
22.        The author implies that the change in the state of the American farmer’s morale during the latter part of the nineteenth century was traceable to the American farmer’s increasing perception that the
(A) costs of cultivating the land were prohibitive within the United States
(B) development of the first transcontinental railroad in the United States occurred at the expense of the American farmer
(C) American farming system was about to run out of the new farmland that was required for its expansion
(D) prices of American agricultural products were deteriorating especially rapidly on domestic markets
(E) proceeds from the sales of American agricultural products on foreign markets were unsatisfactory
23.        According to the passage, which of the following occurred prior to 1890?
(A) Frederick J. Turner’s thesis regarding the American frontier became influential.
(B) The Homestead Act led to an increase in the amount of newly farmed land in the United States.
(C) The manufacturers of technologically advanced agricultural machinery rapidly increased their marketing efforts.
(D) Direct lines of communication were constructed between the United States and South America.
Europe was connected by submarine cable with the United States in 1866 and with South America in 1874.
Mix, it was the lines between Europe and SA, plus Europe and US, not between US and SA
(E) Technological advances made it fruitful to farm extensively on a mechanized basis.
By about 1870 improvements in agricultural technology made possible the full exploitation of areas that were most suitable for extensive farming on a mechanized basis.
Tips: find the Time mark in the passage.
24.        The author implies that, after certain territories and countries had been joined into an interdependent market system in the nineteenth century, agrarian depressions within that system
(A) spread to several nations, excluding those in which the internal frontier remained open
(B) manifested themselves in several nations, including those in which new land remained available for farming
(C) slowed down the pace of new technological developments in international communications and transportation
(D) affected the local and national prices of the nonagricultural products of several nations
(E) encouraged several nations to sell more of their agricultural products on foreign markets
25.        The author provides information concerning newly farmed lands in the United States (lines 11-27) as evidence in direct support of which of the following?
(A) A proposal by Frederick J. Turner that was later disputed by John D. Hicks
(B) An elaboration by John D. Hicks of a thesis that formerly had been questioned by Frederick J. Turner
(C) The established view that was disputed by those scholars who adopted the thesis of Frederick J. Turner
(D) The thesis that important changes occurred in the nature of international trade during the second half of the nineteenth century
Choice E has a logic leap. It first disputes the view that internal frontier has been closed since about 1870. Then, this can be used as evidence to dispute Turner’s view that agrarian discontent resulted from the shut of internal frontier. And the alternative explanation is the content of choice D.
(E) The view that the American frontier did not become closed during the nineteenth century or soon thereafter
Just choose the content that was directly disputed by the sentence in the question.
26.        The author implies that the cause of the agrarian discontent was
(A) masked by the vagueness of the official records on newly settled farms
(B) overshadowed by disputes on the reliability of the existing historical evidence
(C) misidentified as a result of influential but erroneous theorizing
(D) overlooked because of a preoccupation with market conditions
(E) undetected because visible indications of the cause occurred so gradually and sporadically
27.        The author’s argument implies that, compared to the yearly price changes that actually occurred on foreign agricultural markets during the 1880’s, American farmers would have most preferred yearly price changes that were
(A) much smaller and in the same direction
(B) much smaller but in the opposite direction
(C) slightly smaller and in the same direction
(D) similar in size but in the opposite direction
(E) slightly greater and in the same direction

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2015.6.10 comprehension note!

The 1973 Endangered Species Act made into legal policy the concept that endangered species of wildlife are precious as part of a natural ecosystem. The nearly unanimous passage of this act in the United States Congress, reflecting the rising national popularity of environmentalism, masked a bitter debate. Affected industries clung to the former wildlife policy of valuing individual species according to their economic usefulness. They fought to minimize the law’s impact by limiting definitions of key terms, but they lost on nearly every issue. The act defined “wildlife” as almost all kinds of animals—from large mammals to invertebrates—and plants. “Taking” wildlife was defined broadly as any action that threatened an endangered species; areas vital to a species’ survival could be federally protected as “critical habitats.” Though these definitions legislated strong environmentalist goals, political compromises made in the enforcement of the act were to determine just what economic interests would be set aside for the sake of ecological stabilization.
24.        According to the passage, which of the following does the Endangered Species Act define as a “critical habitat”?
(A) A natural ecosystem that is threatened by imminent development
(B) An industrial or urban area in which wildlife species have almost ceased to live among humans
(C) A natural area that is crucial to the survival of a species and thus eligible for federal protection
(D) A wilderness area in which the “taking” of wildlife species is permitted rarely and only under strict federal regulation
(E) A natural environment that is protected under law because its wildlife has a high economic value
25.        According to the passage, which of the following is an explanation for the degree of support that the Endangered Species Act received in Congress?
(A) Concern for the environment had gained increasing national popularity.
(B) Ecological research had created new economic opportunities dependent on the survival of certain species.
(C) Congress had long wanted to change the existing wildlife policy.
(D) The growth of industry had endangered increasing numbers of wildlife species.
(E) Legislators did not anticipate that the act could be effectively enforced.
26.        It can be inferred from the passage that if business interests had won the debate on provisions of the 1973 Endangered Species Act, which of the following would have resulted?
(A) Environmentalist concepts would not have become widely popular.
(B) The definitions of key terms of the act would have been more restricted.
They fought to minimize the law’s impact by limiting definitions of key terms
But they lost, so if business interests had won, they will minimize the definition scope.
(C) Enforcement of the act would have been more difficult.
(D) The act would have had stronger support from Congressional leaders.
(E) The public would have boycotted the industries that had the greatest impact in defining the act.
27.        The author refers to the terms “wildlife” (line 11), “taking” (line 13), and “critical habitats” (line 16) most likely in order to
(A) illustrate the misuse of scientific language and concepts in political processes
(B) emphasize the importance of selecting precise language in transforming scientific concepts into law
(C) represent terminology whose definition was crucial in writing environmentalist goals into law
These terms show after the author mentioned the effort of those affected industries to minimize the law’s impact by limiting definitions of key terms, so these terms are serving the function of presenting its importance.
The importance is that the scope is wide as the terms definition, not the precise
(D) demonstrate the triviality of the issues debated by industries before Congress passed the Endangered Species Act
(E) show that broad definitions of key terms in many types of laws resulted in ambiguity and thus left room for disagreement about how the law should be enforced
I did the last two questions wrong because I failed to understand the passage from a whole perspective.

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2015.6.10 comprehension note!

A Marxist sociologist has argued that racism stems from the class struggle that is unique to the capitalist system—that racial prejudice is generated by capitalists as a means of controlling workers. His thesis works relatively well when applied to discrimination against Blacks in the United States, but his definition of racial prejudice as “racially-based negative prejudgments against a group generally accepted as a race in any given region of ethnic competition,” can be interpreted as also including hostility toward such ethnic groups as the Chinese in California and the Jews in medieval Europe. However, since prejudice against these latter peoples was not inspired by capitalists, he has to reason that such antagonisms were not really based on race. He disposes thusly (albeit unconvincingly) of both the intolerance faced by Jews before the rise of capitalism and the early twentieth-century discrimination against Oriental people in California, which, inconveniently, was instigated by workers.
17.        The passage supplies information that would answer which of the following questions?
(A) What accounts for the prejudice against the Jews in medieval Europe?
(B) What conditions caused the discrimination against Oriental people in California in the early twentieth century?
(C) Which groups are not in ethnic competition with each other in the United States?
(D) What explanation did the Marxist sociologist give for the existence of racial prejudice?
(E) What evidence did the Marxist sociologist provide to support his thesis?
18.        The author considers the Marxist sociologist’s thesis about the origins of racial prejudice to be
(A) unoriginal
(B) unpersuasive
(C) offensive
(D) obscure
(E) speculative
19.        It can be inferred from the passage that the Marxist sociologist would argue that in a noncapitalist society racial prejudice would be
(A) pervasive
(B) tolerated
(C) ignored
(D) forbidden
(E) nonexistent
20.        According to the passage, the Marxist sociologist’s chain of reasoning required him to assert that prejudice toward Oriental people in California was
(A) directed primarily against the Chinese
(B) similar in origin to prejudice against the Jews
(C) understood by Oriental people as ethnic competition
(D) provoked by workers
(E) nonracial in character

this question is important! D is only the superficial reason
E is the radical reason which is disputed by the author in the passage
so E is better choice than D though D is also right.

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2015.6.10 comprehension note!

The first mention of slavery in the statutes of the English colonies of North America does not occur until after 1660—some forty years after the importation of the first Black people. Lest we think that slavery existed in fact before it did in law, Oscar and Mary Handlin assure us that the status of Black people down to the 1660’s was that of servants. A critique of the Handlins’ interpretation of why legal slavery did not appear until the 1660’s suggests that assumptions about the relation between slavery and racial prejudice should be reexamined, and that explanations for the different treatment of Black slaves in North and South America should be expanded.
The Handlins explain the appearance of legal slavery by arguing that, during the 1660’s, the position of White servants was improving relative to that of Black servants. Thus, the Handlins contend, Black and White servants, heretofore treated alike, each attained a different status. There are, however, important objections to this argument. First, the Handlins cannot adequately demonstrate that the White servant’s position was improving during and after the 1660’s; several acts of the Maryland and Virginia legislatures indicate otherwise. Another flaw in the Handlins’ interpretation is their assumption that prior to the establishment of legal slavery there was no discrimination against Black people. It is true that before the 1660’s Black people were rarely called slaves. But this should not overshadow evidence from the 1630’s on that points to racial discrimination without using the term slavery. Such discrimination sometimes stopped short of lifetime servitude or inherited status—the two attributes of true slavery—yet in other cases it included both. The Handlins’ argument excludes the real possibility that Black people in the English colonies were never treated as the equals of White people.
This possibility has important ramifications. If from the outset Black people were discriminated against, then legal slavery should be viewed as a reflection and an extension of racial prejudice rather than, as many historians including the Handlins have argued, the cause of prejudice. In addition, the existence of discrimination before the advent of legal slavery offers a further explanation for the harsher treatment of Black slaves in North than in South America. Freyre and Tannenbaum have rightly argued that the lack of certain traditions in North America—such as a Roman conception of slavery and a Roman Catholic emphasis on equality—explains why the treatment of Black slaves was more severe there than in the Spanish and Portuguese colonies of South America. But this cannot be the whole explanation since it is merely negative, based only on a lack of something. A more compelling explanation is that the early and sometimes extreme racial discrimination in the English colonies helped determine the particular nature of the slavery that followed.
21.        Which of the following statements best describes the organization of lines 1-8 of the passage?
(A) A historical trend is sketched and an exception to that trend is cited.
(B) Evidence for a historical irregularity is mentioned and a generalization from that evidence is advanced.
(C) A paradox about the origins of an institution is pointed out and the author’s explanation of the paradox is expounded.
(D) A statement about a historical phenomenon is offered and a possible misinterpretation of that statement is addressed.
(E) An interpretation of the rise of an institution is stated and evidence for that interpretation is provided.
No evidence in 1-8
I selected the right choice at first, but being confused by E
This version doesn’t have the mark of sentence line. It influences me a lot!
22.        Which of the following is the most logical inference to be drawn from the passage about the effects of “several acts of the Maryland and Virginia legislatures” (lines 22-23) passed during and after the 1660’s?
(A) The acts negatively affected the pre-1660’s position of Black as well as of White servants.
(B) The acts had the effect of impairing rather than improving the position of White servants relative to what it had been before the 1660’s.
(C) The acts had a different effect o n the position of White servants than did many of the acts passed during this time by the legislatures of other colonies.
(D) The acts, at the very least, caused the position of White servants to remain no better than it had been before the 1660’s.
(E) The acts, at the very least, tended to reflect the attitudes toward Black servants that already existed before the 1660’s.
23.        With which of the following statements regarding the status of Black people in the English colonies of North America before the 1660’s would the author be LEAST likely to agree?
(A) Although Black people were not legally considered to be slaves, they were often called slaves.
(B) Although subject to some discrimination, Black people had a higher legal status than they did after the 1660’s.
(C) Although sometimes subject to lifetime servitude, Black people were not legally considered to be slaves.
(D) Although often not treated the same as White people, Black people, like many White people, possessed the legal status of servants.
(E) Although apparently subject to more discrimination after 1630 than before 1630, Black people from 1620 to the 1660’s were legally considered to be servants.
24.        According to the passage, the Handlins have argued which of the following about the relationship between racial prejudice and the institution of legal slavery in the English colonies of North America?
(A) Racial prejudice and the institution of slavery arose simultaneously.
(B) Racial prejudice most often took the form of the imposition of inherited status, one of the attributes of slavery.
(C) The source of racial prejudice was the institution of slavery.
(D) Because of the influence of the Roman Catholic church, racial prejudice sometimes did not result in slavery.
(E) Although existing in a lesser form before the 1660’s, racial prejudice increased sharply after slavery was legalized.
I waste some time on this question because I didn’t see the requirement clearly by missing the key subject of the sentence ---- Handlins’ view
25.        The passage suggests that the existence of a Roman conception of slavery in Spanish and Portuguese colonies had the effect of
(A) extending rather than causing racial prejudice in these colonies
(B) hastening the legalization of slavery in these colonies
(C) mitigating some of the conditions of slavery for Black people in these colonies
(D) delaying the introduction of slavery into the English colonies
(E) bringing about an improvement in the treatment of Black slaves in the English colonies
26.        The author considers the explanation put forward by Freyre and Tannenbaum for the treatment accorded Black slaves in the English colonies of North America to be
(A) ambitious but misguided
(B) valid but limited
(C) popular but suspect
(D) anachronistic and controversial
(E) premature and illogical
27.        With which of the following statements regarding the reason for the introduction of legal slavery in the English colonies of North America would the author be most likely to agree?
(A) The introduction is partly to be explained by reference to the origins of slavery, before the 1660’s, in the Spanish and Portuguese colonies.
(B) The introduction is to be explained by reference to a growing consensus beginning in the 1630’s about what were the attributes of true slavery.
(C) The introduction is more likely to be explained by reference to a decline than to an improvement in the position of White servants in the colonies during and after the 1660’s.
The author mentioned that the position of White servants declined to dispute H’s view that the reason is the rise of the White servants’ position. But the author didn’t further mention that the reason should be the fall of White’s position.
(D) The introduction is more likely to be explained by reference to the position of Black servants in the colonies in the 1630’s than by reference to their position in the 1640’s and 1650’s.
(E) The introduction is more likely to be explained by reference to the history of Black people in the colonies before 1660 than by reference to the improving position of White servants during and after the 1660’s.
right

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2015.6.10 comprehension note!

A long-held view of the history of the English colonies that became the United States has been that England’s policy toward these colonies before 1763 was dictated by commercial interests and that a change to a more imperial policy, dominated by expansionist militarist objectives, generated the tensions that ultimately led to the American Revolution. In a recent study, Stephen Saunders Webb has presented a formidable challenge to this view. According to Webb, England already had a military imperial policy for more than a century before the American Revolution. He sees Charles II, the English monarch between 1660 and 1685, as the proper successor of the Tudor monarchs of the sixteenth century and of Oliver Cromwell, all of whom were bent on extending centralized executive power over England’s possessions through the use of what Webb calls “garrison government.” Garrison government allowed the colonists a legislative assembly, but real authority, in Webb’s view, belonged to the colonial governor, who was appointed by the king and supported by the “garrison,” that is, by the local contingent of English troops under the colonial governor’s command.
According to Webb, the purpose of garrison government was to provide military support for a royal policy designed to limit the power of the upper classes in the American colonies. Webb argues that the colonial legislative assemblies represented the interests not of the common people but of the colonial upper classes, a coalition of merchants and nobility who favored self-rule and sought to elevate legislative authority at the expense of the executive. It was, according to Webb, the colonial governors who favored the small farmer, opposed the plantation system, and tried through taxation to break up large holdings of land. Backed by the military presence of the garrison, these governors tried to prevent the gentry and merchants, allied in the colonial assemblies, from transforming colonial America into a capitalistic oligarchy.
Webb’s study illuminates the political alignments that existed in the colonies in the century prior to the American Revolution, but his view of the crown’s use of the military as an instrument of colonial policy is not entirely convincing. England during the seventeenth century was not noted for its military achievements. Cromwell did mount England’s most ambitious overseas military expedition in more than a century, but it proved to be an utter failure. Under Charles II, the English army was too small to be a major instrument of government. Not until the war with France in 1697 did William III persuade Parliament to create a professional standing army, and Parliaments price for doing so was to keep the army under tight legislative control. While it may be true that the crown attempted to curtail the power of the colonial upper classes, it is hard to imagine how the English army during the seventeenth century could have provided significant military support for such a policy.
21.        The passage can best be described as a
(A) survey of the inadequacies of a conventional viewpoint
(B) reconciliation of opposing points of view
(C) summary and evaluation of a recent study
(D) defense of a new thesis from anticipated objections
(E) review of the subtle distinctions between apparently similar views
22.        The passage suggests that the view referred to in lines 1-7 argued that
(A) the colonial governors were sympathetic to the demands of the common people
(B) Charles II was a pivotal figure in the shift of English monarchs toward a more imperial policy in their governorship of the American colonies
(C) the American Revolution was generated largely out of a conflict between the colonial upper classes and an alliance of merchants and small farmers
(D) the military did not play a major role as an instrument of colonial policy until 1763
(E) the colonial legislative assemblies in the colonies had little influence over the colonial governors
Again, the mark of line omitted!!!
1-7 lines talks about the old view which is D, but I chose the new view C
23.        It can be inferred from the passage that Webb would be most likely to agree with which of the following statements regarding garrison government?
(A) Garrison government gave legislative assemblies in the colonies relatively little authority, compared to the authority that it gave the colonial governors.
(B) Garrison government proved relatively ineffective until it was used by Charles II to curb the power of colonial legislatures.
(C) Garrison government became a less viable colonial policy as the English Parliament began to exert tighter legislative control over the English military.
(D) Oliver Cromwell was the first English ruler to make use of garrison government on a large scale.
(E) The creation of a professional standing army in England in 1697 actually weakened garrison government by diverting troops from the garrisons stationed in the American colonies.
24.        According to the passage, Webb views Charles II as the “proper successor” (line 13) of the Tudor monarchs and Cromwell because Charles II
(A) used colonial tax revenues to fund overseas military expeditions
(B) used the military to extend executive power over the English colonies
Right. The phrase shows at the place of garrison government. B contents the key aim of garrison government
(C) wished to transform the American colonies into capitalistic oligarchies
(D) resisted the English Parliament’s efforts to exert control over the military
(E) allowed the American colonists to use legislative assemblies as a forum for resolving grievances against the crown
C is the crown, he wouldn’t allow anything went against the crown
I oddly changed my answer from the right one to a wrong one.
25.        Which of the following, if true, would most seriously weaken the author’s assertion in lines 54-58?
(A) Because they were poorly administered, Cromwell’s overseas military expeditions were doomed to failure.
(B) Because it relied primarily on the symbolic presence of the military, garrison government could be effectively administered with a relatively small number of troops.
(C) Until early in the seventeenth century, no professional standing army in Europe had performed effectively in overseas military expeditions.
(D) Many of the colonial governors appointed by the crown were also commissioned army officers.
(E) Many of the English troops stationed in the American colonies were veterans of other overseas military expeditions.
26.        According to Webb’s view of colonial history, which of the following was (were) true of the merchants and nobility mentioned in line 30?
I.        They were opposed to policies formulated by Charles II that would have transformed the colonies into capitalistic oligarchies.
II.        They were opposed to attempts by the English crown to limit the power of the legislative assemblies.
III.        They were united with small farmers in their opposition to the stationing of English troops in the colonies.
(A) I only
(B) II only
(C) I and II only
(D) II and III only
(E) I, II, and III
27.        The author suggests that if William III had wanted to make use of the standing army mentioned in line 52 to administer garrison government in the American colonies, he would have had to.
(A) make peace with France
(B) abolish the colonial legislative assemblies
(C) seek approval from the English Parliament
(D) appoint colonial governors who were more sympathetic to royal policy
(E) raise additional revenues by increasing taxation of large landholdings in the colonies

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2015.6.11 comprehension note!

Surprisingly enough, modern historians have rarely interested themselves in the history of the American South in the period before the South began to become self-consciously and distinctively “Southern”—the decades after 1815. Consequently, the cultural history of Britain’s North American empire in the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries has been written almost as if the Southern colonies had never existed. The American culture that emerged during the Colonial and Revolutionary eras has been depicted as having been simply an extension of New England Puritan culture. However, Professor Davis has recently argued that the South stood apart from the rest of American society during this early period, following its own unique pattern of cultural development. The case for Southern distinctiveness rests upon two related premises: first, that the cultural similarities among the five Southern colonies were far more impressive than the differences, and second, that what made those colonies alike also made them different from the other colonies. The first, for which Davis offers an enormous amount of evidence, can be accepted without major reservations; the second is far more problematic.
What makes the second premise problematic is the use of the Puritan colonies as a basis for comparison. Quite properly, Davis decries the excessive influence ascribed by historians to the Puritans in the formation of American culture. Yet Davis inadvertently adds weight to such ascriptions by using the Puritans as the standard against which to assess the achievements and contributions of Southern colonials. Throughout, Davis focuses on the important, and undeniable, differences between the Southern and Puritan colonies in motives for and patterns of early settlement, in attitudes toward nature and Native Americans, and in the degree of receptivity to metropolitan cultural influences.
However, recent scholarship has strongly suggested that those aspects of early New England culture that seem to have been most distinctly Puritan, such as the strong religious orientation and the communal impulse, were not even typical of New England as a whole, but were largely confined to the two colonies of Massachusetts and Connecticut. Thus, what in contrast to the Puritan colonies appears to Davis to be peculiarly Southern—acquisitiveness, a strong interest in politics and the law, and a tendency to cultivate metropolitan cultural models—was not only more typically English than the cultural patterns exhibited by Puritan Massachusetts and Connecticut, but also almost certainly characteristic of most other early modern British colonies from Barbados north to Rhode Island and New Hampshire. Within the larger framework of American colonial life, then, not the Southern but the Puritan colonies appear to have been distinctive, and even they seem to have been rapidly assimilating to the dominant cultural patterns by the late Colonial period.
21.        The author is primarily concerned with
(A) refuting a claim about the influence of Puritan culture on the early American South
(B) refuting a thesis about the distinctiveness of the culture of the early American South
(C) refuting the two premises that underlie Davis’ discussion of the culture of the American South in the period before 1815
(D) challenging the hypothesis that early American culture was homogeneous in nature
(E) challenging the contention that the American South made greater contributions to early American culture than Puritan New England did
22.        The passage implies that the attitudes toward Native Americans that prevailed in the Southern colonies
(A) were in conflict with the cosmopolitan outlook of the South
(B) derived from Southerners’ strong interest in the law
(C) were modeled after those that prevailed in the North
(D) differed from those that prevailed in the Puritan colonies
(E) developed as a response to attitudes that prevailed in Massachusetts and Connecticut
23.        According to the author, the depiction of American culture during the Colonial and Revolutionary eras as an extension of New England Puritan culture reflects the
(A) fact that historians have overestimated the importance of the Puritans in the development of American culture
It ignores the influence of American South, in other word, it overestimates the importance of Puritans.
(B) fact that early American culture was deeply influenced by the strong religious orientation of the colonists
(C) failure to recognize important and undeniable cultural differences between New Hampshire and Rhode Island on the one hand and the Southern colonies on the other
(D) extent to which Massachusetts and Connecticut served as cultural models for the other American colonies
(E) extent to which colonial America resisted assimilating cultural patterns that were typically English
24.        The author of the passage is in agreement with which of the following elements of Davis’ book?
I.        Davis’ claim that acquisitiveness was a characteristic unique to the South during the Colonial period
Thus, what in contrast to the Puritan colonies appears to Davis to be peculiarly Southern—acquisitiveness, a strong interest in politics and the law, and a tendency to cultivate metropolitan cultural models—was not only more typically English than the cultural patterns exhibited by Puritan
It was a characteristic unique to the Puritan
II.        Davis’ argument that there were significant differences between Puritan and Southern culture during the Colonial period
III.        Davis’ thesis that the Southern colonies shared a common culture
(A) I only
(B) II only
(C) III only
(D) I and II only
(E) II and III only
25.        It can be inferred from the passage that the author would find Davis’ second premise (lines 18-20) more plausible if it were true that(weaken)
(A) Puritan culture had displayed the tendency characteristic of the South to cultivate metropolitan cultural models
The author disputes this view, so it will strengthen the second premise
(B) Puritan culture had been dominant in all the non-Southern colonies during the seventeenth and eighteen centuries
Puritan cannot be the representative of non-Southern colonies which is disputed in the latter part of the passage, so this one weakens.
(C) the communal impulse and a strong religious orientation had been more prevalent in the South
The key should be related to overestimated the importance of Puritan
(D) the various cultural patterns of the Southern colonies had more closely resembled each other
Not related, this is the first premise
(E) the cultural patterns characteristic of most early modern British colonies had also been characteristic of the Puritan colonies
wrong
26.        The passage suggests that by the late Colonial period the tendency to cultivate metropolitan cultural models was a cultural pattern that was
(A) dying out as Puritan influence began to grow
(B) self-consciously and distinctively Southern
(C) spreading to Massachusetts and Connecticut
(D) more characteristic of the Southern colonies than of England
(E) beginning to spread to Rhode Island and New Hampshire
27.        Which of the following statements could most logically follow the last sentence of the passage?
(A) Thus, had more attention been paid to the evidence, Davis would not have been tempted to argue that the culture of the South diverged greatly from Puritan culture in the seventeenth century.
(B) Thus, convergence, not divergence, seems to have characterized the cultural development of the American colonies in the eighteenth century.
and even they seem to have been rapidly assimilating to the dominant cultural patterns by the late Colonial period.
Assimilating = convergence
(C) Thus, without the cultural diversity represented by the America South, the culture of colonial America would certainly have been homogeneous in nature.
(D) Thus, the contribution of Southern colonials to American culture was certainly overshadowed by that of the Puritans.
(E) Thus, the culture of America during the Colonial period was far more sensitive to outside influences than historians are accustomed to acknowledge.

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2015.6.11 comprehension note!

Students of United States history, seeking to identify the circumstances that encouraged the emergence of feminist movements, have thoroughly investigated the mid-nineteenth-century American economic and social conditions that affected the status of women. These historians, however, have analyzed less fully the development of specifically feminist ideas and activities during the same period. Furthermore, the ideological origins of feminism in the United States have been obscured because, even when historians did take into account those feminist ideas and activities occurring within the United States, they failed to recognize that feminism was then a truly international movement actually centered in Europe. American feminist activists who have been described as “solitary” and “individual theorists” were in reality connected to a movement—utopian socialism—which was already popularizing feminist ideas in Europe during the two decades that culminated in the first women’s rights conference held at Seneca Falls, New York, in 1848. Thus, a complete understanding of the origins and development of nineteenth-century feminism in the United States requires that the geographical focus be widened to include Europe and that the detailed study already made of social conditions be expanded to include the ideological development of feminism.
The earliest and most popular of the utopian socialists were the Saint-Simonians. The specifically feminist part of Saint-Simonianism has, however, been less studied than the group’s contribution to early socialism. This is regrettable on two counts. By 1832 feminism was the central concern of Saint-Simonianism and entirely absorbed its adherents’ energy; hence, by ignoring its feminism, European historians have misunderstood Saint-Simonianism. Moreover, since many feminist ideas can be traced to Saint-Simonianism, European historians’ appreciation of later feminism in France and the United States remained limited.
Saint-Simon’s followers, many of whom were women, based their feminism on an interpretation of his project to reorganize the globe by replacing brute force with the rule of spiritual powers. The new world order would be ruled together by a male, to represent reflection, and a female, to represent sentiment. This complementarity reflects the fact that, while the Saint-Simonians did not reject the belief that there were innate differences between men and women, they nevertheless foresaw an equally important social and political role for both sexes in their utopia.
Only a few Saint-Simonians opposed a definition of sexual equality based on gender distinction. This minority believed that individuals of both sexes were born similar in capacity and character, and they ascribed male-female differences to socialization and education. The envisioned result of both currents of thought, however, was that women would enter public life in the new age and that sexual equality would reward men as well as women with an improved way of life.
21.        It can be inferred that the author considers those historians who describe early feminists in the United States as “solitary” to be
(A) insufficiently familiar with the international origins of nineteenth-century American feminist thought
(B) overly concerned with the regional diversity of feminist ideas in the period before 1848
(C) not focused narrowly enough in their geographical scope
(D) insufficiently aware of the ideological consequences of the Seneca Falls conference
(E) insufficiently concerned with the social conditions out of which feminism developed
22.        According to the passage, which of the following is true of the Seneca Falls conference on women’s rights?
(A) It was primarily a product of nineteenth-century Saint-Simonian feminist thought.
(B) It was the work of American activists who were independent of feminists abroad.
(C) It was the culminating achievement of the utopian socialist movement.
(D) It was a manifestation of an international movement for social change and feminism.
(E) It was the final manifestation of the women’s rights movement in the United States in the nineteenth century.
23.        The author’s attitude toward most European historians who have studied the Saint-Simonians is primarily one of
The regrettable implies a negative attitude. So eliminate A C
(A) approval of the specific focus of their research
(B) disapproval of their lack of attention to the issue that absorbed most of the Saint-Simonians’ energy after 1832
The specifically feminist part of Saint-Simonianism has, however, been less studied than the group’s contribution to early socialism. This is regrettable on two counts. By 1832 feminism was the central concern of Saint-Simonianism and entirely absorbed its adherents’ energy; hence, by ignoring its feminism, European historians have misunderstood Saint-Simonianism.
Feminism was absorbed, European historians igonore this feminism = issue
(C) approval of their general focus on social conditions
(D) disapproval of their lack of attention to links between the Saint-Simonians and their American counterparts
(E) disagreement with their interpretation of the Saint-Simonian belief in sexual equality
No the author disagree, but a few S-S-ers disagree.
I did this wrong mainly because I didn’t read the relative sentence carefully enough. When I find the right relative sentence, I should read it as carefully as I can and forget about the time because doing such easy question wrong is more regrettable.
24.        The author mentions all of the following as characteristic of the Saint-Simonians EXCEPT:
(A) The group included many women among its members.
(B) The group believed in a world that would be characterized by sexual equality.
(C) The group was among the earliest European socialist groups.
(D) Most members believed that women should enter public life.
(E) Most members believed that women and men were inherently similar in ability and character.
25.        It can be inferred from the passage that the Saint-Simonians envisioned a utopian society having which of the following characteristics?
(A) It would be worldwide.
(B) It would emphasize dogmatic religious principles.
(C) It would most influence the United States.
(D) It would have armies composed of women rather than of men.
(E) It would continue to develop new feminist ideas.
26.        It can be inferred from the passage that the author believes that study of Saint-Simonianism is necessary for historians of American feminism because such study
(A) would clarify the ideological origins of those feminist ideas that influenced American feminism
(B) would increase understanding of a movement that deeply influenced the utopian socialism of early American feminists
(C) would focus attention on the most important aspect of Saint-Simonian thought before 1832
(D) promises to offer insight into a movement that was a direct outgrowth of the Seneca Falls conference of 1848
(E) could increase understanding of those ideals that absorbed most of the energy of the earliest American feminists
27.        According to the passage, which of the following would be the most accurate description of the society envisioned by most Saint-Simonians?
(A) A society in which women were highly regarded for their extensive education
(B) A society in which the two genders played complementary roles and had equal status
(C) A society in which women did not enter public life
(D) A social order in which a body of men and women would rule together on the basis of their spiritual power
(E) A social order in which distinctions between male and female would not exist and all would share equally in political power

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2015.6.11 comprehension note!

Human relations have commanded people’s attention from early times. The ways of people have been recorded in innumerable myths, folktales, novels, poems, plays, and popular or philosophical essays. Although the full significance of a human relationship may not be directly evident, the complexity of feelings and actions that can be understood at a glance is surprisingly great. For this reason psychology holds a unique position among the sciences. “Intuitive” knowledge may be remarkably penetrating and can significantly help us understand human behavior, whereas in the physical sciences such commonsense knowledge is relatively primitive. If we erased all knowledge of scientific physics from our modem word, not only would we not have cars and television sets, we might even find that the ordinary person was unable to cope with the fundamental mechanical problems of pulleys and levers. On the other hand if we removed all knowledge of scientific psychology from our world, problems in interpersonal relations might easily be coped with and solved much as before. We would still “know” how to avoid doing something asked of us and how to get someone to agree with us; we would still “know” when someone was angry and when someone was pleased. One could even offer sensible explanations for the “whys” of much of the self’s behavior and feelings. In other words, the ordinary person has a great and profound understanding of the self and of other people which, though unformulated or only vaguely conceived, enables one to interact with others in more or less adaptive ways. Kohler, in referring to the lack of great discoveries in psychology as compared with physics, accounts for this by saying that “people were acquainted with practically all territories of mental life a long time before the founding of scientific psychology.”
Paradoxically, with all this natural, intuitive, commonsense capacity to grasp human relations, the science of human relations has been one of the last to develop. Different explanations of this paradox have been suggested. One is that science would destroy the vain and pleasing illusions people have about themselves; but we might ask why people have always loved to read pessimistic, debunking writings, from Ecclesiastes to Freud. It has also been proposed that just because we know so much about people intuitively, there has been less incentive for studying them scientifically; why should one develop a theory, carry out systematic observations, or make predictions about the obvious? In any case, the field of human relations, with its vast literary documentation but meager scientific treatment, is in great contrast to the field of physic in which there are relatively few nonscientific books.
21.        According to the passage, it has been suggested that the science of human relations was slow to develop because
(A) intuitive knowledge of human relations is derived from philosophy
(B) early scientists were more interested in the physical world
(C) scientific studies of human relations appear to investigate the obvious
(D) the scientific method is difficult to apply to the study of human relations
(E) people generally seem to be more attracted to literary than to scientific writings about human relations
22.        The author’s statement that “Psychology holds a unique position among the sciences” (lines 8-9) is supported by which of the following claims in the passage?
(A) The full meaning of a human relationship may not be obvious.
This is why psychology needs to exist
(B) Commonsense understanding of human relations can be incisive.
This is why psychology is unique, because it seems no need to research in the era people have already known
(C) Intuitive knowledge in the physical sciences is relatively advanced.
(D) Subjective bias is difficult to control in psychological research.
(E) Psychological facts are too imprecise to lead to great discoveries.
23.        According to the passage, an understanding of the self can be
(A) highly biased due to unconscious factors
(B) profound even when vaguely conceived
(C) improved by specialized training
(D) irrelevant for understanding human relations
(E) more reliable than knowledge about other people
24.        It can be inferred that the author would most likely agree with which of the following statements regarding people who lived before the advent of scientific psychology?
(A) Their understanding of human relations was quite limited.
(B) They were uninterested in acquiring knowledge of the physical world.
(C) They misunderstood others more frequently than do people today.
(D) Their intuitions about human relations were reasonably sophisticated.
Those parallel sentences with “know” suggests that people already are sophisticated in dealing with interpersonal relationship before the birth of psychology.
(E) They were more likely to hold pleasing illusions about themselves than are people today.
Different explanations of this paradox have been suggested. One is that science would destroy the vain and pleasing illusions people have about themselves; but we might ask why people have always loved to read pessimistic, debunking writings, from Ecclesiastesto Freud.
This is something paradox, so it cannot be cited as right.
25.        The author implies that attempts to treat human relations scientifically have thus far been relatively
Paradoxically, with all this natural, intuitive, commonsense capacity to grasp human relations, the science of human relations has been one of the last to develop.
This suggests that the author regarding psychology is something undeveloped = unilluminating
(A) unilluminating
(B) paradoxical
(C) pessimistic
(D) encouraging
(E) uninterpretable
26.        The author refers to people who are attracted to “pessimistic, debunking writings” (line 44) in order to support which of the following ideas?
(A) Interesting books about human relations are typically pessimistic.
(B) People tend to ignore scientific explanations of human relations.
(C) People rarely hold pleasing illusions about themselves.
(D) A scientific approach human relations would undermine the pleasing illusions people hold of themselves.
(E) It is doubtful that the science of human relations developed slowly because of a desire to maintain pleasing illusions.
27.        It can be inferred that the author assumes that commonsense knowledge of human relations is
(A) equally well developed among all adults within a given society
(B) considerably more accurate in some societies than in others
(C) biased insofar as it is based on myths and folktales
(D) typically unrelated to an individual’s interactions with other people
(E) usually sufficiently accurate to facilitate interactions with others

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1.Stranded north of the Arctic Circle and with few remaining supplies, the expedition was in a _____ position.

strand used in the past form serves as an adj here showing the helpless condition of the group


2.Despite being lionized for her uncanny ability to inhabit almost any role and, when necessary, inject it with genuine pathos, the actress, perhaps a bit too self-effacingly, chalked her success up to nothing more than a series of ______________  occurrences.

chalk sthA up to sthB
B is credited to A

Those suffering from repetitive stress injuries often attribute the injuries to multiple factors

Bede ascribed to these legendary figures a historical role in the 5th-century Anglo-Saxon conquest of eastern Britain.

active voice: attribute, ascribe(these to refer to positive things), impute(pay attention, impute negative things to other)
passive voice: credit



3.Rather, only for those words that have no corresponding word in another language.


4.The computer modeling of weather has, since its inception, been fraught with difficulties, yet the fact that it has only had to improve on what, to some, amounts to nothing more than voodoo science made its ______________ all but assured.

all but = nearly


5.rile up  It actually means to upset.


6.Though she had spent years toiling away, she had again, much to her ____________, been passed over for a lucrative post that went to someone far less senior.

much to her ... means make her feel greatly ...


7.With characteristic ____________, H.L. Mencken skewered the sacred cows of his time, criticizing social trends and government institutions with equal asperity.

sacred cows = cherish traditions


8.befit, to be fit for

After announcing his retirement, he asked fans to give him a nickname that befit his retirement.

sthA befit sthB


9.wield power 行使权力

10.Thumbing his nose with equal derision at Mozart as he did at Monet, Thomas was an avowed ____________, treating all arts with contempt.


thumb one's nose means disrespect