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Reading Comprehension Questions361.
Based on the tone of the passage, which of the following words best describes the author’s attitude toward the Pony Express rider?
a. indifference
b. fear
c. bewilderment
d. excitement
362.
The sighting of the pony-rider is told from which viewpoint?
a. a person sitting on a porch
b. a
passenger inside a stagecoachc. a passenger in a hot air balloon
d. a person picnicking
363.
The reader can infer that the stagecoach in the passage did not
a. carry mail.
b. have windows.
c. travel by night.
d. travel a different route from that of the Pony Express.
364.
Which of the following is not supported by the passage?
a. The mail was strapped in a pouch under the rider’s thighs.
b. The rider rode great distances to deliver the mail.
c. People did not care about the Pony Express rider.
d. Usually eighty pony riders were in the saddle at any given time 6 8 501
Sentence Completion Questions6801_501_ReadingCompQuest_4E[fin].indd 168 3/18/10 1:34:57 PM
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Reading Comprehension QuestionsAnswers
349.
a. A
scapegoat is one who is forced to bear the blame for others or upon which the sins of a community are heaped. Choices
b and
c are wrong because nowhere in the passage is it implied that
Sula
is a hero or leader, or even that the Bottom has such a personage. Sula maybe a
victim (choice
d), but a community does not necessarily project evil onto a victim or an outcast the way they do onto a scapegoat, so choice
a is still the best answer.
d. The passage says that people
who live in the Bottom are apt to go awry, to break from their prescribed boundaries. A person who is eccentric is quirky or odd. Nowhere in the passage is it implied that the people are furtive, suspicious, or unkempt (choices
a,
b, and
c).
351.
d. It is logical that a play would close after such
a bad first-night reception, and the sentence in choice
d also uses a metaphor about stage history, which is extended in the next sentence. Choices
a,
b, and
c do not fit the sense
or syntax of the paragraph, because the
however in the next sentence contradicts them.
d. The first line of the passage describes the
English language pre-miere of the play, indicating it had previous performances in a different language.
a. Although the other choices are sometimes connotations of the term
avant-garde, the author’s meaning of
innovative is supported by the final judgment of the passage on the play as revolutionary.
d. Although the writer seems amused by the negative criticisms of the play, she does give the opinion that it was revolutionary (a word that literally means a turning point. Choice
a underplays and choice b overestimates the importance of the work to the author of the passage. Choice
c is contradicted by the last sentence of the passage.
a. Plato’s philosophy taught that the world is a picture or shadow of eternity. The other choices would mean the opposite of what the passage is saying.
d. The word
convey literally means to move or carry. Plato’s metaphor was intended to carry an idea to the reader, so explain is the best choice.
6801_501_ReadingCompQuest_4E[fin].indd 169 3/18/10 1:34:57 PM