Module 1
1. O Captain! my Captain! our fearful trip is done!
Th e ship has weathered every wrack, the prize we sought is won.
Th e port is near, the bells I hear, the people all exulting,
While follow eyes the steady keel, the vessel grim and daring.
But, O heart! heart! heart! Leave you not the little spot
Where on the deck my Captain lies, Fallen cold and dead.
O Captain! my Captain! rise up and hear the bells!
Rise up! for you the fl ag is fl ung, for you the bugle trills:
For you bouquets and ribboned wreaths; for you the shores a-crowding:
For you they call, the swaying mass, their eager faces turning
O Captain! dear father!
This arm I push beneath you.
It is some dream that on the deck
You’ve fallen cold and dead!
My Captain does not answer, his lips are pale and still:
My father does not feel my arm, he has no pulse nor will.
But the ship, the ship is anchored safe, its voyage closed and done:
From fearful trip the victor ship comes in with object won!
Exult, O shores! and ring, O bells!
But I, with silent tread,
Walk the spot my Captain lies,
Fallen cold and dead.
The poem can best be summarized as
(A) I should never forget the moment of my captain’s death.
(B) I love my captain.
(C) My heart is breaking upon seeing my captain die.
(D) I will never leave this spot where my captain has died.
2. The Space Race, which occurred between 1957 and 1975, began when the
Soviets launched the first man-made satellite, Sputnik, into space. For the Soviet
Union, Sputnik was a tremendous technological achievement. For the United
States, it was an embarrassing wake-up call. The United States had previously been
regarded as the forerunner in the new field of space exploration, but Sputnik
proved that the Soviets were viable contenders for that role. After Sputnik was
launched, the American public panicked. Many believed that if the Soviets were
technologically superior when it came to launching satellites, then perhaps they
would also be superior when it came to developing new and terrifying weapons.
The author most likely uses the phrase “wake-up call” in order to
(A) emphasize the bitterly competitive nature of the space race
(B) highlight the need for the United States to begin its own weapons development
program
(C) imply that the Soviets did in fact contact the United States government to
notify them of the launch
(D) convey the shock and humiliation the United States felt when it heard about
Sputnik
3. One of the sights upon which my eyes rest oftenest and with deepest content is a
broad sweep of meadow slowly climbing the western sky until it pauses at the edge
of a noble piece of woodland. It is a playground of wind and flowers and waving
grasses. When the turf is fresh, all the promise of summer is in its tender green; a
little later, and it is sown thick with daisies and buttercups; and as the breeze plays
upon it these frolicsome flowers, which have known no human tending, seem to
chase each other in endless races over the whole expanse. Even as I write, I see the
white and yellow heads tossing to and fro in a mood of free and buoyant being.
It can be inferred from the passage that the “promise of summer” most nearly
means
(A) the arrival of human caretakers who will tend to the meadow
(B) the beginning of warmer, sunnier days
(C) the appearance of woodland animals
(D) the emergence of flowers
4. John Locke was an Enlightenment-era philosopher from England who wrote
many influential works about human understanding and identity. He may be best
known for his “blank slate” theory, which states that we are all born without innate
knowledge—in other words, our minds at birth are blank slates, and over time we
“write” to those slates as we learn and experience new things. According to Locke,
all knowledge comes from our sensory perception—none of it is placed there at
birth. In addition, because we are all born with “blank slates,” we are all born
equal, independent, and morally good. Locke’s philosophical ideas, especially with
regards to basic equality and human rights, had a profound influence on the
framers of the U.S. Constitution.
The primary purpose of the passage is to
(A) convey the complexity of Enlightenment-era thought
(B) argue in favor of the “blank slate” theory
(C) illustrate how John Locke’s ideas shaped the U.S. Constitution
(D) describe John Locke and his basic philosophical theories
5. History is nothing but assisted and recorded memory. It might almost be said to
be no science at all, if memory and faith in memory were not what science
necessarily rests on. In order to sift evidence we must rely on some witness, and
we must trust experience before we proceed to expand it. The line between what is
known scientifically and what has to be assumed in order to support that
knowledge is impossible to draw. Memory itself is an internal rumour; and when to
this hearsay within the mind we add the falsified echoes that reach us from others,
we have but a shifting and unseizable basis to build upon. The picture we frame of
the past changes continually and grows every day less similar to the original
experience which it purports to describe.
It can be inferred from the passage that the author would most likely agree with
which of the following statements about science and memory?
(A) Our memories must be verified by scientific processes before they can be
considered accurate.
(B) Many scientists have developed solid hypotheses about the way human
memory works.
(C) Our memories can be flawed, just as science itself can be flawed.
(D) Science relies on real, verifiable facts and not on memories or assumptions that
might be faulty
6. Cases of poisoning by articles of food may be distinguished as: (1) those caused
by some injurious constituent in the food itself, and (2) those caused by a peculiar
condition of the individual consuming the food, by virtue of which essentially
wholesome food substances are capable of producing physiological disturbance in
certain individuals. The latter group includes persons, apparently normal in other
respects, who are more or less injuriously affected by some particular article of
diet, such as eggs or milk, which is eaten with impunity by all normal individuals.
This is the so-called food sensitization or food allergy.
The main point of the passage is to
(A) suggest that most people have a food allergy that they don’t know about
(B) lament the fact that many cases of food poisoning go unsolved
(C) make the distinction between food sensitization and food allergies
(D) describe two potential causes of most cases of food poisoning
7. Those who have fear of cholera have more intelligence, and know what it
means. They have education, and their lives are bigger lives, as it were, and they
would safeguard them. Those who are afraid are the foreigners and the officials,
yes, even the Emperor himself. He has spent many weeks of this hot summer,
when cholera was ravaging his country, in his summer palace at Nikko. The
cholera spread itself throughout the land, in the seaports, across the rice-fields,
taking its toll here and there, of little lives, little petty lives to the Emperor.
In line , “petty” most nearly means
(A) childish
(B) insignificant
(C) frivolous
(D) meager
8. First, then, aesthetics has for its object the vast realm of the beautiful, and it may
be most adequately defined as the philosophy of art or of the fine arts. To some the
definition may seem arbitrary, as excluding the beautiful in nature; but it will cease
to appear so if it is remarked that the beauty which is the work of art is higher than
natural beauty, because it is the offspring of the mind. Moreover, if, in conformity
with a certain school of modern philosophy, the mind be viewed as the true being,
including all in itself, it must be admitted that beauty is only truly beautiful when it
shares in the nature of mind, and is mind’s offspring. Viewed in this light, the
beauty of nature is only a reflection of the beauty of the mind, only an imperfect
beauty, which as to its essence is included in that of the mind.
Based on information in the passage, which of the following is most likely to be a
belief held by those who are part of the “school of modern philosophy” ?
(A) People who are surrounded by natural beauty have a greater appreciation for
all types of beauty.
(B) Art is not science.
(C) The mind is the essence of one’s self.
(D) Art that has been created by someone is far more beautiful than art that exists
in nature.
9. Now commenced a new era. Many English kings had occasionally committed
unconstitutional acts; but none had ever systematically attempted to make himself
a despot, and to reduce the Parliament to a nullity. Such was the end which Charles
distinctly proposed to himself. From March, 1629, to April, 1640, the Houses were
not convoked. Never in our history had there been an interval of eleven years
between Parliament and Parliament. Only once had there been an interval of even
half that length. This fact alone is sufficient to refute those who represent Charles
as having merely trodden in the footsteps of the Plantagenets and Tudors. It is
proved, by the testimony of the King’s most strenuous supporters, that, during this
part of his reign, the provisions of the Petition of Right were violated by him, not
occasionally, but constantly, and on system; that a large part of the revenue was
raised without any legal authority; and that persons obnoxious to the government
languished for years in prison, without being ever called upon to plead before any
tribunal.
The primary purpose of this passage is to
(A) lament the loss of a government ruled by a strong Parliament
(B) illustrate how easily kings can be controlled by their advisors
(C) describe the oppressive and unjust reign of King Charles
(D) draw a comparison between Thomas Wentworth in England and Richelieu in
France
10. I have often noticed that almost everyone has his own individual small
economies—careful habits of saving fractions of pennies in some one peculiar
direction— any disturbance of which annoys him more than spending shillings or
pounds on some real extravagance. An old gentleman of my acquaintance, who
took the intelligence of the failure of a Joint-Stock Bank, in which some of his
money was invested, with stoical mildness, worried his family all through a long
summer’s day because one of them had torn (instead of cutting) out the written
leaves of his now useless bank-book; of course, the corresponding pages at the
other end came out as well, and this little unnecessary waste of paper (his private
economy) chafed him more than all the loss of his money. I am not above owning
that I have this human weakness myself. String is my foible. My pockets get full of
little hanks of it, picked up and twisted together, ready for uses that never come. I
am seriously annoyed if any one cuts the string of a parcel instead of patiently and
faithfully undoing it fold by fold.
The primary purpose of the first paragraph is to show that
(A) only very wealthy people can afford certain luxury items
(B) frugal people are the ones who succeed in life
(C) nearly everyone shares a particular character trait
(D) bank failures were common events in the narrator’s time
11. Iceland was more than an island of refuge for muddled and blundering souls
that had found the career of the great world too much for them. The ideas of an
old-fashioned society migrated to Iceland, but they did not remain there
unmodified. The modes of thought in Iceland, as is proved by its historical
literature, were distinguished by their freedom from extravagances. While the life
represented in the Icelandic Sagas is more primitive, less civilized, than the life of
the great Southern nations in the Middle Ages, the record of that life is by a still
greater interval in advance of all the common modes of narrative then known to the
more fortunate or more luxurious parts of Europe. The conventional form of the
Icelandic Saga has none of the common medieval restrictions of view. It is
accepted at once by modern readers without deduction or apology on the score of
antique fashion, because it is in essentials the form with which modern readers are
acquainted in modern story-telling; and more especially because the language is
unaffected and idiomatic, not “quaint” in any way, and because the conversations
are like the talk of living people
The principal function of the paragraph is to
(A) introduce the topic of sagas in relation to actual historical events
(B) illustrate the trend toward reinterpreting Icelandic Sagas in a modern light
(C) provide an explanation for the barbaric language used in the Icelandic Sagas
(D) point out the differences between the Icelandic Sagas and other medieval
European sagas
12.. Modern Berber carpets, which are made from densely knotted synthetic
materials, are quite ------- and can last for years without showing wear; however,
traditional Berber carpets, which are made from soft, natural materials, are more ---
---- and may get worn out more quickly.
(A) durable . . delicate
(B) versatile . . faded
(C) spotless . . fickle
(D) flexible . . authentic
13. The keynote speaker was quite ------- in praising the charitable organization: he
gushed for over an hour about the positive results of the organization’s work in the
community.
(A) doleful
(B) spontaneous
(C) effusive
(D) relieved
14.. Travelers to politically unstable nations are often shocked by the absolute -----
-- that the people feel toward their governments; such hatred is difficult to
understand unless one has witnessed the people’s sufferings firsthand.
(A) haughtiness
(B) condescension
(C) rancor
(D) deliberation
15. Although he was ------- and even childish when he first began working on
board the fishing vessel, the youth quickly gained experience and maturity as the
months went by.
(A) garrulous
(B) precarious
(C) precocious
(D) callow
16. Lately, a small but _________ group of scholars, writers, and students have
been questioning William Shakespeare’s place in the literary pantheon. For several
hundred years, Shakespeare has been the undisputed master of English literature.
Finally, his super-human status has turned against him. Now, people are beginning
to ask whether an uneducated man raised by illiterate parents could truly have
written these great plays.
The writer wants to convey an attitude of respectful disagreement. Which choice
best accomplishes this goal?
A) annoying
B) pestiferous
C) outspoken
D) irritating
17. As for the questions about Shakespeare's lack of cultural exposure, historical
examination debunks the skeptics' claims. In Shakespeare's time, the standard
grammar school curriculum included quite a bit of the information contained in the
plays. ________ records reveal a book containing most of the allusions that show
up in Shakespeare's plays was donated by a private benefactor to Stratford's
grammar school a few years after William's birth.
A) Nevertheless,
B) Thus,
C) However,
D) Moreover,
18. But our nation was almost one hundred years old before we had our first
__________ Yellowstone National Park, which was also the first national park in
the entire world. Today, the park covers, Montana, Idaho, and Wyoming but the
majority of the park is in Wyoming.
A) national park. This was
B) national park:
C) national park, which is
D) national park; this was
19. The reality was Hayden was worried that Yellowstone could easily become like
Niagara Falls, which was overridden with ___________ that only the national
government could help preserve the land so that it was consecutive with his vision.
A) tourism; he felt
B) tourism, he felt
C) tourism, feeling
D) tourism and which he felt
20. The main focus of the exhibition, ________ was the culture that emerged
around the sneaker. Nowhere was this more exemplified than in the 1980s, when
sneakers were not necessarily as much about enhancing athleticism as about 30
providing inspiration. And no shoe embodied this ethos more than the Air Jordan.
With eleven years' worth of differences.
A) consequently,
B) as a result
C) however
D) additionally
21. At any Olympic event, the viewers and trainers have a good guess about which
three or four people stand the best chance of winning. No one was paying much
attention to the _____________________ standing among athletes who had been
preparing his or her whole life.
A) unknown, largely untrained, barefoot, man
B) unknown, largely, untrained, barefoot man
C) unknown. Largely untrained barefoot man
D) unknown, largely untrained, barefoot man
22. Delving into the realm of literature, an aspiring literary scholar has gathered the
following insights:
• Mary Shelley’s novel ‘Frankenstein’ was published in 1818, marking the
beginning of science fiction.
• The story explores themes of creation, morality, and the consequences of
unchecked scientific ambition.
• The novel’s structure is framed within multiple narratives, adding
complexity to its storytelling.
• ‘Frankenstein’ has left an indelible mark on popular culture, inspiring
numerous adaptations and interpretations.
How can the literary scholar best introduce the enduring impact of ‘Frankenstein’
to an audience unfamiliar with Mary Shelley’s contribution to literature?
A. a. 'Frankenstein' was Mary Shelley's only literary work and was
overshadowed by other writers of her time
B. Frankenstein' primarily focuses on romantic themes and lacks significant
exploration of scientific ethics.
C. 'Frankenstein' was published after Mary Shelley's death and did not receive
much attention during her lifetime.
D. Frankenstein' introduced the genre of science fiction and has influenced
countless subsequent works in literature and other media.
23. The advent of social media has revolutionized how we connect_________
without its complexities. On one hand, these platforms enable us to maintain
relationships across vast distances and share moments with a global audience.
Friendships forged online can transcend geographical barriers. However, the
virtual nature of interactions can sometimes dilute the richness of face-to-face
communication. The pressure to curate a perfect online persona can lead to a
disconnect between the online and offline selves. Moreover, the immediacy of
digital communication can create misunderstandings due to the absence of tone and
body language.
Which choice completes the text so that it conforms to the conventions of Standard
English?
a. but it's not
b. , but it's not
c. ; but it's not
d. , but, it's not
24. The Renaissance, a period of cultural rebirth in Europe spanning from the 14th
to the 17th century, marked a profound shift in artistic and intellectual pursuits.
The revival of classical learning and the exploration of humanism led to
remarkable achievements in art, science, and philosophy. Visionaries like
Leonardo da Vinci epitomized this era’s interdisciplinary spirit, with his
contributions to anatomy, engineering, and art. The Gutenberg printing press
facilitated the spread of knowledge______________. As a result, the Renaissance
transformed Europe’s societal landscape, laying the groundwork for modernity.
a. , catalyzing intellectual exchanges
b. , catalyzing, intellectual exchanges
c. -catalyzing intellectual exchanges
d. catalyzing intellectual exchanges
25. The excerpt below is adapted from Mark Twain’s classic novel ‘The
Adventures of Huckleberry Finn.’ Huck and Jim, two unlikely companions, find
themselves adrift on the Mississippi River.
The raft floated on, and in the stillness of the night I was suddenly seized with an
overwhelming desire to confide in Jim. The river whispered secrets, and the stars
above seemed like silent witnesses to my inner turmoil. Jim’s gentle snores echoed
in the night, a reminder of the camaraderie we had developed over our journey. I
hesitated, torn between the weight of my thoughts and the fear of breaking our
unique bond. Ultimately, I whispered my secrets to the wind, knowing that the
river and Jim were my steadfast confidantes.
Which choice best describes the function of the underlined sentence?
a. It introduces a description of the raft's movement on the river
b. It reveals the characters' inner thoughts and emotions.
c. It highlights the danger of their journey on the Mississippi River.
d. It portrays the characters' interaction with the night sky.
26. Several ancient manuscripts discovered within the archives of medieval
monasteries reveal depictions of monks diligently transcribing texts illuminated by
candlelight. Certain researchers have contended that the presence of illuminated
manuscripts indicates the deep spiritual significance of this practice, as the
manuscripts often contained religious texts. However, art historian Maria
Rodriguez posits that illuminated manuscripts may also signify the reverence for
knowledge and the pursuit of wisdom that monks held dear. The fact that such
meticulous attention was given to the illumination of texts, therefore, __________.
Which choice most logically completes the text?
a. demonstrates the monks' artistic inclinations and aesthetic preferences.
b. underscores the practical necessity of proper lighting for transcription.
c. highlights the monks' dedication to preserving historical records.
d. reflects the harmonious fusion of artistic craftsmanship and spiritual devotion.
27. The evolution of communication technology has been a continuous journey
marked by significant milestones. From the invention of the telegraph in the 19th
century, which facilitated long-distance messaging, to the development of
smartphones that enable instant global connectivity, human communication has
evolved dramatically. ___________, as technology continues to advance, the
future promises even more seamless and efficient forms of communication that
transcend geographical boundaries
a. Nonetheless
b. Furthermore
c. In summary
d. Meanwhile
