雷哥GRE老师精选GRE官方真题，每个Exercise严格按照GRE考试中阅读部分的出题习惯编排，即每个Exercise 10个题目，形式为（1长+2短+1逻辑 or 4短+1逻辑）。建议大家计时完成，严格按照考试时间，把握考场节奏。
题号后附上了GRE真题解析标答，大家可勤加思考得出正确选项的原因，在回顾的过程中总结单词、长难句、文章的出题规律以及句子之间的关系。GRE真题宝贵，一个阶段完成后，可进行反复练习。
Exercise 1. 20min
While most scholarship on women’s employment in the United States recognizes that the Second World War (1939–1945) dramatically changed the role of women in the workforce, these studies also acknowledge that few women remained in manufacturing jobs once men returned from the war. But in agriculture, unlike other industries where women were viewed as temporary workers, women’s employment did not end with the war. Instead, the expansion of agriculture and a steady decrease in the number of male farmworkers combined to cause the industry to hire more women in the postwar years.
Consequently, the 1950s saw a growing number of women engaged in farm labor, even though rhetoric in the popular media called for the return of women to domestic life.
1. It can be inferred from the passage that the manufacturing and agricultural sectors in the United States following the Second World War differed in which of the following respects? B
A. The rate of expansion in each sector
B. The percentage of employees in each sector who were men
C. The trend in the wages of men employed in each sector
D. The attitude of the popular media toward the employment of women in each sector
E. The extent to which women in each sector were satisfied with their jobs
2. Which of the following statements about women’s employment in the United States during and after the Second World War is most clearly supported by the passage? D
A. Most women who joined the workforce during the Second World War wanted to return to domestic life when the war ended.
B. The great majority of women who joined the workforce during the Second World War were employed in manufacturing jobs.
C. The end of the Second World War was followed by a large-scale transfer of women workers from manufacturing to agriculture.
D. The increase in women’s employment that accompanied the Second World War was longer lasting in agriculture than it was in manufacturing.
E. The popular media were more forceful in calling for women to join the workforce during the Second World War than in calling for women to return to domestic life after the war.
The evolution of intelligence among early large mammals of the grasslands was due in great measure to the interaction between two ecologically synchronized groups of these animals, the hunting carnivores and the herbivores that they hunted. The interaction resulting from the differences between predator and prey led to a general improvement in brain functions; however, certain components of intelligence were improved far more than others.
The kind of intelligence favored by the interplay of increasingly smarter catchersand increasingly keener escapers is defined by attention — that aspect of mind carrying consciousness forward from one moment to the next. It ranges from a passive, freefloating awareness to a highly focused, active fixation. The range through these states is mediated by the arousal system, a network of tracts converging from sensory systems to integrating centers in the brain stem. From the more relaxed to the more vigorous levels, sensitivity to novelty is increased. The organism is more awake, more vigilant; this increased vigilance results in the apprehension of ever more subtle signals as the organism becomes more sensitive to its surroundings. The processes of arousal and concentration give attention its direction. Arousal is at first general, with a flooding of impulses in the brain stem; then gradually the activation is channeled. Thus begins concentration, the holding of consistent images. One meaning of intelligence is the way in which these images and other alertly searched information are used in the context of previous experience. Consciousness links past attention to the present and permits the integration of details with perceived ends and purposes.
The elements of intelligence and consciousness come together marvelously to produce different styles in predator and prey. Herbivores and carnivores develop different kinds of attention related to escaping or chasing. Although in both kinds of animal, arousal stimulates the production of adrenaline and norepinephrine by the adrenal glands, the effect in herbivores is primarily fear, whereas in carnivores the effect is primarily aggression. For both, arousal attunes the animal to what is ahead. Perhaps it does not experience forethought as we know it, but the animal does experience something like it. The predator is searchingly aggressive, inner-directed, tuned by the nervous system and the adrenal hormones, but aware in a sense closer to human consciousness than, say, a hungry lizard’s instinctive snap at a passing beetle. Using past events as a framework, the large mammal predator is working out a relationship between movement and food, sensitive to possibilities in cold trails and distant sounds — and yesterday’s unforgotten lessons. The herbivore prey is of a different mind. Its mood of wariness rather than searching and its attitude of general expectancy instead of anticipating are silk-thin veils of tranquility over an explosive endocrine system.
3. The author refers to a hungry lizard (line 31) primarily in order to C
A. demonstrate the similarity between the hunting methods of mammals and those of nonmammals
B. broaden the application of the argument by including an insectivore as an example
C. make a distinction between higher and lower levels of consciousness
D. provide an additional illustration of the brutality characteristic of predators
E. offer an objection to suggestions that all animals lack consciousness line
4. It can be inferred from the passage that in animals less intelligent than the mammals discussed in the passage A
A. past experience is less helpful in ensuring survival
B. attention is more highly focused
C. muscular coordination is less highly developed
D. there is less need for competition among species
E. environment is more important in establishing the proper ratio of prey to predator
5. According to the passage, improvement in brain function among early large mammals resulted primarily from which of the following? A
A. Interplay of predator and prey.
B. Persistence of free-floating awareness in animals of the grasslands.
C. Gradual dominance of warm-blooded mammals over cold-blooded reptiles.
D. Interaction of early large mammals with less intelligent species.
E. Improvement of the capacity for memory among herbivores and carnivores.
6. According to the passage, as the process of arousal in an organism continues, all of the following may occur EXCEPT E
A. the production of adrenaline
B. the production of norepinephrine
C. a heightening of sensitivity to stimuli
D. an increase in selectivity with respect to stimuli
E. an expansion of the range of states mediated by the brain stem
A person who agrees to serve as mediator between two warring factions at the request of both abandons by so agreeing the right to take sides later. To take sides at a later point would be to suggest that the earlier presumptive impartiality was a sham.
7. The passage above emphasizes which of the following points about mediators? B
A. They should try to form no opinions of their own about any issue that is related to the dispute.
B. They should not agree to serve unless they are committed to maintaining a stance of impartiality.
C. They should not agree to serve unless they are equally acceptable to all parties to a dispute.
D. They should feel free to take sides in the dispute right from the start, provided that they make their biases publicly known.
E. They should reserve the right to abandon their impartiality so as not to be open to the charge of having been deceitful.
Reviving the practice of using elements of popular music in classical composition, an approach that had been in hibernation in the United States during the 1960s, composer Philip Glass (born 1937) embraced the ethos of popular music without imitating it. Glass based two symphonies on music by rock musicians David Bowie and Brian Eno, but the symphonies’ sound is distinctively his. Popular elements do not appear out of place in Glass’s classical music, which from its early days has shared certain harmonies and rhythms with rock music. Yet this use of popular elements has not made Glass a composer of popular music. His music is not a version of popular music packaged to attract classical listeners; it is high art for listeners steeped in rock rather than the classics.
8. The passage addresses which of the following issues related to Glass’s use of popular elements in his classical compositions? E
A. How it is regarded by listeners who prefer rock to the classics
B. How it has affected the commercial success of Class’s music
C. Whether it has contributed to a revival of interest among other composers in using popular elements in their compositions
D. Whether it has had a detrimental effect on Glass’s reputation as a composer of classical music
E. Whether it has caused certain of Glass’s works to be derivative in quality
9. The passage suggests that Glass’s work displays which of the following qualities? AC
A. A return to the use of popular music in classical compositions
B. An attempt to elevate rock music an artistic status more closely approximating that of classical music
C. A long-standing tendency to incorporate elements from two apparently disparate musical styles
10. Select the sentence that distinguishes two ways of integrating rock and classical music. His music is not
Exercise 2. 20min
Since the Hawaiian Islands have never been connected to other land masses, the great variety of plants in Hawaii must be a result of the long-distance dispersal of seeds, a process that requires both a method of transport and an equivalence between the ecology of the source area and that of the recipient area.
There is some dispute about the method of transport involved. Some biologists argue that ocean and air currents are responsible for the transport of plant seeds to Hawaii. Yet the results of flotation experiments and the low temperatures of air currents cast doubt on these hypotheses. More probable is bird transport, either externally, by accidental attachment of the seeds to feathers, or internally, by the swallowing of fruit and subsequent excretion of the seeds. While it is likely that fewer varieties of plant seeds have reached Hawaii externally than internally, more varieties are known to be adapted to external than to internal transport.
1. The author of the passage is primarily concerned with B
A. discussing different approaches biologists have taken to testing theories about the distribution of plants in Hawaii
B. discussing different theories about the transport of plant seeds to Hawaii
C. discussing the extent to which air currents are responsible for the dispersal of plant seeds to Hawaii
D. resolving a dispute about the adaptability of plant seeds to bird transport
E. resolving a dispute about the ability of birds to carry plant seeds long distances
2. The author mentions the results of flotation experiments on plant seeds (lines7–8) most probably in order to D
A. support the claim that the distribution of plants in Hawaii is the result of the long-distance dispersal of seeds
B. lend credibility to the thesis that air currents provide a method of transport for plant seeds to Hawaii
C. suggest that the long-distance dispersal of seeds is a process that requires long periods of time
D. challenge the claim that ocean currents are responsible for the transport of plant seeds to Hawaii
E. refute the claim that Hawaiian flora evolved independently from flora in other parts of the world
Animal signals, such as the complex songs of birds, tend to be costly. A bird, by singing, may forfeit time that could otherwise be spent on other important behaviors such as foraging or resting. Singing may also advertise an individual’s location to rivals or predators and impair the ability to detect their approach. Although these types of cost may be important, discussions of the cost of singing have generally focused on energy costs. Overall the evidence is equivocal: for instance, while Eberhardt found increases in energy consumption during singing for Carolina wrens, Chappell found no effect of crowing on energy consumption in roosters.
To obtain empirical data regarding the energy costs of singing, Thomas examined the relationship between song rate and overnight changes in body mass of male nightingales. Birds store energy as subcutaneous fat deposits or “body reserves”; changes in these reserves can be reliably estimated by measuring changes in body mass. If singing has important energy costs, nightingales should lose more body mass on nights when their song rate is high. Thomas found that nightingales reached a significantly higher body mass at dusk and lost more mass overnight on nights when their song rate was high.
These results suggest that there may be several costs of singing at night associated with body reserves. The increased metabolic cost of possessing higher body mass contributes to the increased overnight mass loss. The strategic regulation of evening body reserves is also likely to incur additional costs, as nightingales must spend more time foraging in order to build up larger body reserves. The metabolic cost of singing itself may also contribute to increased loss of reserves. This metabolic cost may arise from the muscular and neural activity involved in singing or from behaviors associated with singing. For example, birds may expend more of their reserves on thermoregulation if they spend the night exposed to the wind on a song post than if they are in a sheltered roost site. Thomas’s data therefore show that whether or not singing per se has an important metabolic cost, metabolic costs associated with singing can have an important measurable effect on a bird’s daily energy budget, at least in birds with high song rates such as nightingales.
3. The primary purpose of the passage is to C
A. compare the different types of cost involved for certain birds in singing
B. question a hypothesis regarding the energy costs of singing for certain birds
C. present evidence suggesting that singing has an important energy cost for certain birds
D. discuss the benefits provided to an organism by a behavior that is costly in energy
E. describe an experiment that supports an alternative model of how birdsong functions
For the following question, consider each of the choices separately and select all that apply.
4. The passage implies that during the day before a night on which a male nightingale’s song rate is high, that nightingale probably does which of the following? B
A. Expends less of its reserves on thermoregulation than on other days
B. Stores more energy as body reserves than on other days
C. Hides to avoid predators
5. Select the sentence in the first or second paragraph that presents empirical results in support of a hypothesis about the energy costs of singing. 2段最后一句
For the following question, consider each of the choices separately and select all that apply.
6. It can be inferred from the passage that compared with other costs of singing, which of the following is true of the energy costs of singing? B
A. They are the single greatest cost to an individual bird.
B. They have generally received more attention from scientists.
C. They vary less from one bird species to another.
During the day in Lake Constance, the zooplankton D.hyalina departs for the depths where food is scarce and the water cold. D.galeata remains near the warm surface where food is abundant. Even though D.galeata grows and reproduces much faster, its population is often outnumbered by D.hyalina.
7. Which of the following, if true, would help resolve the apparent paradox presented above? B
A. The number of species of zooplankton living at the bottom of the lake is twice that of species living at the surface.
B. Predators of zooplankton, such as whitefish and perch, live and feed near the surface of the lake during the day.
C. In order to make the most of scarce food resources, D.hyalina matures more slowly than D.galeata.
D. D.galeata clusters under vegetation during the hottest part of the day to avoid the Sun’s rays.
E. D.galeata produces twice as many offspring per individual in any given period of time as does D.hyalina.
Was Felix Was Felix Mendelssohn (1809–1847) a great composer? On its face, the question seems absurd. One of the most gifted prodigies in the history of music, he produced his first masterpiece at sixteen. From then on, he was recognized as an artist of preternatural abilities, not only as a composer but also as a pianist and conductor. But Mendelssohn’s enduring popularity has often been at odds — sometimes quite sharply — with his critical standing. Despite general acknowledgment of his genius, there has been a noticeable reluctance to rank him with, say, Schumann or Brahms. As Haggin put it, Mendelssohn, as a composer, was a “minor master . . . working on a small scale of emotion and texture.”
8. Select a sentence in the passage whose function is to indicate the range of Mendelssohn’s musical talents. (From then)
9. The passage suggests that anyone attempting to evaluate Mendelssohn’s career must confront which of the following dichotomies? C
A. The tension between Mendelssohn’s career as a composer and his career as a pianist and conductor
B. The contrast between Mendelssohn’s popularity and that of Schumann and Brahms
C. The discrepancy between Mendelssohn’s popularity and his standing among critics
D. The inconsistency between Mendelssohn’s reputation during his lifetime and his reputation since his death
E. The gap between Mendelssohn’s prodigious musical beginnings and his decline in later years.
10. The author mentions Schumann and Brahms primarily in order to E
A. provide examples of composers who are often compared with Mendelssohn
B. identify certain composers who are more popular than Mendelssohn
C. identify composers whom Mendelssohn influenced
D. establish the milieu in which Mendelssohn worked
E. establish a standard of comparison for Mendelssohn as a composer
Exercise 3. 20min
I enjoyed A Dream of Light & Shadow: Portraits of Latin American Women Writers for the same reasons that, as a child, I avidly consumed women’s biographies: the fascination with how the biographical details of another female’s life are represented and interpreted.
A Dream offers a rich read, varied in both the lives and texts of the women portrayed, and the perspectives and styles of the sixteen essayists. Yet, as an adult, I have come to demand of any really “great” book a self-consciousness about the tenuous nature of representations of reality, a critical contextualization of florid detail, and a self-awareness of the role of ideology in our lives. In these critical senses, A Dream is inadequate.
For the following question, consider each of the choices separately and select all that apply.
1. The author of the passage suggests that A Dream falls short in which of the following respects? AC
A. It does not appear to recognize that representations of reality can be unreliable.
B. It seems to focus on stylistic variety at the expense of accuracy of detail.
C. It offers a wealth of detail without sufficient critical examination of that detail.
2. Which of the following best describes the function of the second sentence (“A Dream . . . essayists”) in the context of the passage as a whole? B
A. To give examples of how A Dream presents fascinating portraits that display awareness of the tenuous nature of representations of reality
B. To elaborate on how A Dream fulfills the author’s childhood criteria for a pleasurable book
C. To suggest that the author enjoyed A Dream for reasons more sophisticated than the reasons she enjoyed certain books as a child
D. To illustrate ways in which the author finds A Dream to be inadequate in certain critical senses
E. To imply that A Dream is too varied in focus to provide a proper contextualization of the biographical details it offers
Some researchers contend that sleep plays no role in the consolidation of declarative memory (i.e., memory involving factual information). These researchers note that people with impairments in rapid eye movement (REM) sleep continue to lead normal lives, and they argue that if sleep were crucial for memory, then these individuals would have apparent memory deficits. Yet the same researchers acknowledge that the cognitive capacities of these individuals have never been systematically examined, nor have they been the subject of studies of tasks on which performance reportedly depends on sleep. Even if such studies were done, they could only clarify our understanding of the role of REM sleep, not sleep in general.
These researchers also claim that improvements of memory overnight can be explained by the mere passage of time, rather than attributed to sleep. But recent studies of memory performance after sleep — including one demonstrating that sleep stabilizes declarative memories from future interference caused by mental activity during wakefulness — make this claim unsustainable. Certainly there are memoryconsolidation processes that occur across periods of wakefulness, some of which neither depend on nor are enhanced by sleep. But when sleep is compared with wakefulness, and performance is better after sleep, then some benefit of sleep for memory must be acknowledged.
3. The primary purpose of the passage is to C
A. present the evidence that supports a particular claim regarding REM sleep and memory
B. describe how various factors contribute to the effect of sleep on memory
C. argue against a particular position regarding sleep’s role in memory
D. summarize the most prevalent theory regarding sleep and memory
E. defend the importance of the consolidation of declarative memory
4. According to the author of the passage, which of the following generalizations about memory and sleep is true?A
A. There are some memory-consolidation processes that have nothing to do with sleep.
B. Sleep is more important to the consolidation of declarative memory than to the consolidation of other types of memory.
C. REM sleep is more important to memory consolidation than is non-REM sleep.
D. There are significant variations in the amount of sleep that people require for the successful consolidation of memory.
E. It is likely that memory is more thoroughly consolidated during wakefulness than during sleep.
5. Which of the following best describes the function of the sentence in lines 14–16 (“Certainly . . . sleep”)? E
A. It provides the reasoning behind a claim about the role of sleep in memory consolidation.
B. It explains why a previous claim about sleep and memory is unsustainable.
C. It demonstrates why wakefulness is central to the process of declarative memory consolidation.
D. It emphasizes the limited role sleep plays in the process of declarative memory consolidation.
E. It concedes that the consolidation of declarative memory does not depend entirely on one factor.
6. The importance of the study mentioned in lines 12–14 is that it B
A. reveals the mechanism by which declarative memory is stabilized during sleep
B. identifies a specific function that sleep plays in the memory-consolidation process
C. demonstrates that some kinds of mental activity can interfere with memory consolidation
D. suggests that sleep and wakefulness are both important to memory consolidation
E. explains how the passage of time contributes to memory consolidation
In the United States between 1850 and 1880, the number of farmers continued to increase, but at a rate lower than that of the general population. E
7. Which of the following statements directly contradicts the information presented above?
A. The number of farmers in the general population increased slightly in the 30 years between 1850 and 1880.
B. The rate of growth of the United States labor force and the rate of growth of the general population rose simultaneously in the 30 years between 1850 and 1880.
C. The proportion of farmers in the United States labor force remained constant in the 30 years between 1850 and 1880.
D. The proportion of farmers in the United States labor force decreased from 64 percent in 1850 to 49 percent in 1880.
E. The proportion of farmers in the general population increased from 68 percent in 1850 to 72 percent in 1880.
Whether the languages of the ancient American peoples were used for expressing abstract universal concepts can be clearly answered in the case of Nahuatl. Nahuatl, like Greek and German, is a language that allows the formation of extensive compounds. By the combination of radicals or semantic elements, single compound words can express complex conceptual relations, often of an abstract universal character.
The tlamatinime (those who know) were able to use this rich stock of abstract terms to express the nuances of their thought. They also availed themselves of other forms of expression with metaphorical meaning, some probably original, some derived from Toltec coinages. Of these forms, the most characteristic in Nahuatl is the juxtaposition of two words that, because they are synonyms, associated terms, or even contraries, complement each other to evoke one single idea. Used metaphorically, the juxtaposed terms connote specific or essential traits of the being they refer to, introducing a mode of poetry as an almost habitual form of expression.
For the following question, consider each of the choices separately and select all that apply.
8. Which of the following can be inferred from the passage regarding present-day research relating to Nahuatl?AB
A. Some record or evidence of the thought of the tlamatinime is available.
B. For at least some Nahuatl expressions, researchers are able to trace their derivation from another ancient American language.
C. Researchers believe that in Nahuatl, abstract universal concepts are always expressed metaphorically.
9. Select the sentence in the passage in which the author introduces a specific Nahuatl mode of expression that is not identified as being shared with certain European languages. Of these forms,
10. In the context in which it appears, “coinages” (line 9) most nearly means B
A. adaptations
B. creations
C. idiosyncrasies
D. pronunciations
E. currencies
Exercise 4. 20min
Tocqueville, apparently, was wrong. Jacksonian America was not a fluid, egalitarian society where individual wealth and poverty were ephemeral conditions. At least so argues Pessen in his iconoclastic study of the very rich in the United States between 1825 and 1850.
Pessen does present a quantity of examples, together with some refreshingly intelligible statistics, to establish the existence of an inordinately wealthy class. Though active in commerce or the professions, most of the wealthy were not self-made but had inherited family fortunes. In no sense mercurial, these great fortunes survived the financial panics that destroyed lesser ones. Indeed, in several cities the wealthiest one percent constantly increased its share until by 1850 it owned half of the community’s wealth. Although these observations are true, Pessen overestimates their importance by concluding from them that the undoubted progress toward inequality in the late eighteenth century continued in the Jacksonian period and that the United States was a class-ridden, plutocratic society even before industrialization.
1. According to the passage, Pessen indicates that all of the following were true of the very wealthy in the United States between 1825 and 1850 EXCEPT: D
A. They formed a distinct upper class.
B. Many of them were able to increase their holdings.
C. Some of them worked as professionals or in business.
D. Most of them accumulated their own fortunes.
E. Many of them retained their wealth in spite of financial upheavals.
2. Which of the following best states the author’s main point? E
A. Pessen’s study has overturned the previously established view of the social and economic structure of early-nineteenth-century America.
B. Tocqueville’s analysis of the United States in the Jacksonian era remains the definitive account of this period.
C. Pessen’s study is valuable primarily because it shows the continuity of the social system in the United States throughout the nineteenth century.
D. The social patterns and political power of the extremely wealthy in the United States between 1825 and 1850 are well documented.
E. Pessen challenges a view of the social and economic systems in the United States from 1825 to 1850, but he draws conclusions that are incorrect.
Until recently, many anthropologists assumed that the environment of what is now the southwestern United States shaped the social history and culture of the region’s indigenous peoples. Building on this assumption, archaeologists asserted that adverse environmental conditions and droughts were responsible for the disappearances and migrations of southwestern populations from many sites they once inhabited.
However, such deterministic arguments fail to acknowledge that local environmental variability in the Southwest makes generalizing about that environment difficult. To examine the relationship between environmental variation and sociocultural change in the Western Pueblo region of central Arizona, which indigenous tribes have occupied continuously for at least 800 years, a research team recently reconstructed the climatic, vegetational, and erosional cycles of past centuries. The researchers found it impossible to provide a single, generally applicable characterization of environmental conditions for the region. Rather, they found that local areas experienced different patterns of rainfall, wind, and erosion, and that such conditions had prevailed in the Southwest for the last 1,400 years. Rainfall, for example, varied within and between local valley systems, so that even adjacent agricultural fields can produce significantly different yields.
The researchers characterized episodes of variation in southwestern environments by frequency: low-frequency environmental processes occur in cycles longer than one human generation, which generally is considered to last about 25 years, and high-frequency processes have shorter cycles. The researchers pointed out that low-frequency processes, such as fluctuations in stream flow and groundwater levels, would not usually be apparent to human populations. In contrast, high-frequency fluctuations such as seasonal temperature variations are observable and somewhat predictable, so that groups could have adapted their behaviors accordingly. When the researchers compared sequences of sociocultural change in the Western Pueblo region with episodes of low- and high-frequency environmental variation, however, they found no simple correlation between environmental process and sociocultural change or persistence.
Although early Pueblo peoples did protect themselves against environmental risk and uncertainty, they responded variously on different occasions to similar patterns of high-frequency climatic and environmental change. The researchers identified seven major adaptive responses, including increased mobility, relocation of permanent settlements, changes in subsistence foods, and reliance on trade with other groups. These findings suggest that groups’ adaptive choices depended on cultural and social as well as environmental factors and were flexible strategies rather than uncomplicated reactions to environmental change. Environmental conditions mattered, but they were rarely, if ever, sufficient to account for sociocultural persistence and change. Group size and composition, culture, contact with other groups, and individual choices and actions were — barring catastrophes such as floods or earthquakes — more significant for a population’s survival than were climate and environment.
3. The passage is primarily concerned with C
A. explaining why certain research findings have created controversy
B. pointing out the flaws in a research methodology and suggesting a different approach
C. presenting evidence to challenge an explanation and offering an alternative explanation
D. elucidating the means by which certain groups have adapted to their environment
E. defending a long-held interpretation by presenting new research findings
4. Which of the following findings would most strongly support the assertion made by the archaeologists mentioned in line 3? E
A. A population remained in a certain region at least a century after erosion wore away much of the topsoil that sustained grass for their grazing animals.
B. The range of a certain group’s agricultural activity increased over a century of gradual decrease in annual rainfall.
C. As winters grew increasingly mild in a certain region, the nomadic residents of the region continued to move between their summer and winter encampments.
D. An agricultural population began to trade for supplies of a grain instead of producing the grain in its own fields as it had in the past.
E. A half century of drought and falling groundwater levels caused a certain population to abandon their settlements along a riverbank.
5. The fact that “adjacent agricultural fields can produce significantly different yields” (lines 16–17) is offered as evidence of the D
A. unpredictability of the climate and environment of the southwestern United States
B. difficulty of producing a consistent food supply for a large population in the Western Pueblo region
C. lack of water and land suitable for cultivation in central Arizona
D. local climatic variation in the environment of the southwestern United States
E. high-frequency environmental processes at work in the southwestern United States
6. It can be inferred from the passage that which of the following activities is NOT an example of a population responding to high-frequency environmental processes? C
A. Developing watertight jars in which to collect and store water during the rainy season
B. Building multistory dwellings in low-lying areas to avoid the flash flooding that occurs each summer
C. Moving a village because groundwater levels have changed over the last generation
D. Trading with other groups for furs from which to make winter clothes
E. Moving one’s herds of grazing animals each year between summer and winter pastures
A ten-year comparison between the United States and the Soviet Union in terms of crop yields per acre revealed that when only planted acreage is compared, Soviet yields were equal to 68 percent of United States yields. When total agricultural acreage (planted acreage plus fallow acreage) is compared, however,
Soviet yield was 114 percent of United States yield.
7. From the information above, which of the following can be most reliably inferred about United States and Soviet agriculture during the ten-year period? A
A. A higher percentage of total agricultural acreage was fallow in the United States than in the Soviet Union.
B. The United States had more fallow acreage than planted acreage.
C. Fewer total acres of available agricultural land were fallow in the Soviet Union than in the United States.
D. The Soviet Union had more planted acreage than fallow acreage.
E. The Soviet Union produced a greater volume of crops than the United States produced.
The condition of scholarship devoted to the history of women in photography is confounding. Recent years have witnessed the posthumous inflation of the role of the hobbyist Alice Austen into that of a pioneering documentarian while dozens of notable senior figures — Marion Palfi, whose photographs of civil-rights activities in the South served as early evidence of the need for protective legislation, to name one — received scant attention from scholars. And, while Naomi Rosenblum’s synoptic History of Women Photographers covers the subject through 1920 in a generally useful fashion, once she reaches the 1920s, when the venues, forms, applications, and movements of the medium expanded exponentially, she resorts to an increasingly terse listing of un-familiar names, with approaches and careers summarized in a sentence or two.
8. The author of the passage cites Rosenblum’s book most likely in order to C
A. suggest that the works documented most thoroughly by historians of women in photography often do not warrant that attention
B. offer an explanation for the observation that not all aspects of the history of women in photography have received the same level of attention
C. provide an example of a way in which scholarship on the history of women in photography has been unsatisfactory
D. suggest that employing a strictly chronological approach when studying the history of women in photography may be unproductive
E. provide support for the notion that certain personalities in women’s photography have attained undue prominence
For the following question, consider each of the choices separately and select all that apply.
9. Which of the following statements about Marion Palfi is supported by the passage? C
A. Marion Palfi’s photographs would have received greater recognition from historians had her work been done in an era when most aspects of photography were static rather than in a state of transition.
B. Alice Austen has achieved greater notoriety than has Marion Palfi primarily because the subjects that Austen photographed were more familiar to her contemporaries.
C. In addition to providing a record of certain historical events, Marion Palfi’s photographs played a role in subsequent events.
10. In the context in which it appears, “inflation” (line 2) most nearly means A
A. exaggeration
B. acquisition
C. evaluation
D. distortion
E. attenuation