501 Critical Reading Questions 501 Critical Reading Questions ® NEW YORK Copyright © 2004 LearningExpress, LLC. All rights reserved under International and Pan-American Copyright Conventions. Published in the United States by LearningExpress, LLC, New York. Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data: 501 critical reading questions.—1st ed. p. cm. ISBN 1-57685-510-4 (pbk. : alk. paper) 1. Reading (Secondary)—Examinations, questions, etc. 2. Reading comprehension— Examinations, questions, etc. 3. Readers (Secondary) I. Title: Five hundred one critical reading questions. II. Title: Five hundred and one critical reading questions. III. LearningExpress (Organization) LB1632.A16 2004 428.4'07'12—dc22 2004001114 Printed in the United States of America 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1 First Edition ISBN 1-57685-510-4 For more information or to place an order, contact LearningExpress at: 55 Broadway 8th Floor New York, NY 10006 Or visit us at: www.learnatest.com The LearningExpress Skill Builder in Focus Writing Team is comprised of experts in test preparation, as well as educators and teachers who specialize in language arts. LearningExpress Skill Builder in Focus Writing Team Marco A. Annunziata Freelance Writer New York, New York Elizabeth Chesla English Instructor Language Arts Expert Harleysville, Pennsylvania Brigit Dermott Freelance Writer English Tutor, New York Cares New York, New York Margaret Muirhead Freelance Writer Arlington, Massachusetts Patricia Mulrane Freelance Writer New York, New York Lauren Starkey Freelance Reference Writer Essex, Vermont C Reed Test Preparation Expert Burbank, California Contents Introduction ix 1 Popular Culture 1 2 U.S. History and Politics 27 3 Arts and Humanities 59 4 Health and Medicine 87 5 Literature and Literary Criticism 121 6 Music 155 7 Science and Nature 181 8 Sports and Leisure 211 9 Social Studies 245 Source Materials 267 vii Introduction Why Should I Use this Book? Schools and employers know that students and workers who reason criti- cally about what they read are better students and more valuable employ- ees. That is why standardized tests almost invariably include a reading comprehension section. This book is designed to help you be a more successful critical reader. You are probably most interested in performing well on a standardized test such as the SAT, ACT, or a vocational or professional exam. By reading and working through 501 Critical Reading Questions you will become much more proficient at answering the multiple-choice questions found on those tests. The benefits you gain from this practice and from your conscious attention to critical reasoning skills will extend far beyond any exam and into all aspects of your life. Reading will become a much more rewarding and enjoyable experience, and your life will be richer for it. What Is in this Book? Each of the chapters in this book focuses on a different subject matter, so regardless of the exact exam you need to prepare for, there will be content similar to material you will face on your exam. However, it’s important that ix 501 Critical Reading Questions you practice with all the passages, not just the ones in your areas of inter- est. Sometimes unfamiliar subjects can teach you the most valuable lessons about critical reading. Each chapter contains three short reading passages, similar to the ones found on many exams, including the SAT. There are also six longer pas- sages, two of which are paired for purposes of comparison. Passages in Chapter One deal with popular culture and current events. History and politics are covered in Chapter Two. Chapter Three’s passages focus on the humanities—they are drawn from fields such as mythology, philosophy, and the arts. Chapter Four has passages that deal with health and medicine. Chapter Five draws passages from literature. Chapter Six’s passages are drawn from the field of music. Chapter Seven contains mate- rial on science and nature. Chapter Eight covers sports and leisure. And finally, Chapter Nine’s passages are based in the social sciences of anthro- pology and sociology. STAY ACTIVE The most important thing to know about critical reading is that it is an active endeavor. Keep your mind active and on its figurative toes at all times. Under- line important points as you read, argue with the author, make notes, and do whatever you need to stay involved with the passage. Seven Strategies for Success Even though short passages are new to the SAT, strategies for successfully answering the questions are identical to those for the longer passages. The first thing you will want to do, before diving into the practice, is to make sure you are thoroughly familiar with these strategies. Then feel free to adapt them to suit your needs and preferences. One word of caution, though: Be sure you actually try each strategy several times before decid- ing whether or not it suits you! 1. Get involved with the passage. Critical reading is an active endeavor, not a passive one. React to the material, form questions as you read, and make your own marks on the paper. Write in the margins, underline important words and sentences—talk back! x 501 Critical Reading Questions 2. Try looking at the questions (but not the answers) before you read the passage. Make sure you understand what each question is asking. What are the key words in the questions? Are there phrases you can look for in the passage? If so, underline them or jot them in the margin so that you can look for them in the passage. Then, when you find them, you can either answer the question right away or mark the area to return to later. 3. After reading the passage, return to the questions and try to answer each one in your own words before you look at your answer choices. The reason for this is that the answers will contain distracter choices. These are choices that are logically plausible but not correct, that contain words and phrases found in the passage but are not correct, or that are close to correct but wrong in some detail. If you can formulate your own answer before looking at your choices, you are less likely to be lured by an incorrect answer choice. 4. As with all multiple-choice questions, elimination is an important strategy when you aren’t sure of the answer. Usually you can narrow down your choices to two or three without too much effort. When you eliminate an incorrect choice, it’s important to actually cross it out in your test booklet so that you aren’t distracted by it again as you focus on the remaining possibilities. 5. Refer back to the passage(s) on virtually every question. Even if you think you know the answer to a question without looking at the passage, look anyway, just to confirm your answer and to make sure you haven’t fallen for a clever distracter. 6. When you encounter a two-passage section, read the passages with their relationship in mind. Are they opposed or in agreement? If there is some other type of relationship, how would you describe it? If the passages have opposing viewpoints, what are the points of difference? You may want to make notes about these things in the margin. 7. Don’t be afraid to skip around among the questions, or among the passages within a section. This is an especially important strategy if you know from past experience that you often run out of time on standardized tests. If this is the case, and you encounter a passage you’re having difficulty with, go on to the next one and come back to the difficult one later, as time allows. xi 501 Critical Reading Questions Remind Me Why I’m Doing This Finally, as you work through these 501 questions, think of it as time spent doing something for yourself. It is extremely important for you to improve your critical reading skills, not only for standardized tests, but also for your success throughout life. And, besides, there is some pretty interesting stuff in this book! Enjoy. xii 501 Critical Reading Questions 1 Popular Culture Questions 1–3 are based on the following passage. The following selection is about the invention of the compact disc, and explains how it works. (1) Compact discs (CDs), which may be found in over 25 million Amer- ican homes, not to mention backpacks and automobiles, first entered popular culture in the 1980s. But their history goes back to the 1960s, when an inventor named James Russell decided to create an alterna- (5) tive to his scratched and warped phonograph records—a system that could record, store, and replay music without ever wearing out. The result was the compact disc (CD). Made from 1.2 mm of poly- carbonate plastic, the disc is coated with a much thinner aluminum layer that is then protected with a film of lacquer. The lacquer layer (10) can be printed with a label. CDs are typically 120 mm in diameter, and can store about 74 minutes of music. There are also discs that can store 80, 90, 99, and 100 minutes of music, but they are not as com- patible with various stereos and computers as the 74–minute size. The information on a standard CD is contained on the polycar- (15) bonate layer, as a single spiral track of pits, starting at the inside of the disk and circling its way to the outside. This information is read by shining light from a 780 nm wavelength semiconductor laser through the bottom of the polycarbonate layer. The light from the laser follows 1 501 Critical Reading Questions the spiral track of pits, and is then reflected off either the pit or the alu- (20) minum layer.