501 critical reading questions p1

501 critical reading questions p1 501 critical reading questions p1 501 critical reading questions p1 501 critical reading questions p1 501 critical reading questions p1 501 critical reading questions p1 501 critical reading questions p1 501 critical reading questions p1 501 critical reading questions p1 501 critical reading questions p1 501 critical reading questions p1

501 Critical Reading Questions

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

Introduction

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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 witft tfte 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!

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501 Critical Reading Questions

2. Try looking at tfte questions (but not the answers) before you read tfte 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 tfte passage, return to tfte questions and try to answer eacft one in your own words before you look at your answer cftoices 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 witft all multiple-cftoice questions, elimination is an important strategy wften you aren’t sure of tfte 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 tfte 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. Wften you encounter a two-passage section, read tfte passages witft tfteir relationsftip 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 tfte questions, or among tfte passages witftin 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

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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

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501 Critical Reading Questions

Questions 1–3 are based on the following

passage.

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(5)

Th following selection is about the invention of the compact disc, and s l ction is about the invention of the compact disc, and t the invention of the compact disc, and h inv ntion of t the invention of the compact disc, and h compact the invention of the compact disc, and isc, and an d d

r

xplains how it the invention of the compact disc, and wo ks.

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- 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

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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- 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

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Popular Culture

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501 Critical Reading Questions

(20)

(25)

(30)

the spiral track of pits, and is then reflected off either the

pit or the alu- minum layer Because the CD is read

through the bottom of the disc, each pit looks like a

bump to the laser

Information is read as the laser moves over the bumps

(where no light will be reflected) and the areas that have

no bumps, also known as land (where the laser light will

be reflected off the aluminum) The changes in

reflectivity are interpreted by a part of the compact disc

player known as the detector It is the job of the detector

to convert the information collected by the laser into the

music that was origi- nally recorded onto the disc This

invention brought 22 patents to James Russell, who today

says he working on an even better system for recording and

playing back music

1. According to the passage, why did James Russell invent the CD?

a He was tired of turning over his records to hear both sides

b He wanted to record more music on a new format

c He wanted a purer, more durable sound than he

could get from vinyl records

d He was interested in getting patents

e He wanted to work with lasers

2. What would happen if the detector on a

CD player malfunctioned?

a The spiral track would not be read properly

b The pits and land would look like one unit

c The changes in reflectivity would be absorbed

back into the laser

d The music would play backwards

e The information read by the laser would not be

converted into music

3. Paragraph 3, lines 14–21, explains all of the following EXCEPT

a how the information on a CD is read

b why semiconductor lasers were invented

c where information is stored on a CD

d what pits and bumps are

e the purpose of the aluminum layer of a CD

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501 Critical Reading Questions

Questions 4–6 are based on the following

passage.

(1)

(5)

Th s l ction t the invention of the compact disc, and hat the invention of the compact disc, and follows is about the invention of the compact disc, and t the invention of the compact disc, and h cu rr nt the invention of the compact disc, and st the invention of the compact disc, and at the invention of the compact disc, and of t the invention of the compact disc, and h mo d ling selection is about the invention of the compact disc, and in ust the invention of the compact disc, and y. d r

The beginning of the twenty-first century has been called

the end of the supermodel era by fashion magazines, trend

watchers, and news organ- izations around the world The

models are being replaced, so the the- ory goes, with

actors Check the covers of fashion magazines, and you

will find that many on any given month feature an actor,

rather than a model But, as with most trends, this is

nothing new

From its beginnings in the 1920s, the modeling

industry has pro- vided beautiful people to help sell

everything from magazines to com- puters to vacation

destinations John Robert Powers, who opened the

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first modeling agency in 1923, was a former actor who

hired his actor friends to model for magazine

advertisements Cary Grant, Lucille Ball, and Princess

Grace of Monaco were clients However, for many models

simply being “great-looking” was where their resumés

began and ended The height of popularity for them was

in the 1980s and 1990s, the era of the supermodel A

handful of “perfect” women com- manded salaries of up

to $25,000 a day to walk catwalks at fashion shows,

appear in print ads, and pose their way through

commercials They were celebrities, treated with all of the

lavish attention usually paid to heads of state or rock

stars

But that was in the supermodel heyday As designers and

magazine editors began to favor more exotic and more

“real” looking models, the modeling handful grew into an

army The demand for the perfect- looking select few

dropped, and women who had quirky smiles, a few extra

pounds, spiky hair, or were past their twenties, gained favor

This group was joined by those who achieved success in

some other venue, such as music (think Renee Fleming

raving about a watch), sports (Tiger Woods happily

devouring his Wheaties®), and acting (Danny Glover

waxing rhapsodic over MCI) Iconic fashion designer

Calvin Klein summed it up: “I don’t think that people are

that interested in models anymore It’s not a great

moment for the modeling industry It says a lot about our

society and I think it’s good.”

4. According to the passage, the author believes that

a today’s fashion models are not as perfect looking

as were the supermodels

b people still respond to perfection in advertising

c today’s fashion models are thinner than those in the past

d to be a model, one must be taller than average

e in the 1980s, models were paid more than they are today

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501 Critical Reading Questions

5. The phrase in lines 13 and 14, “great-looking”

was wftere tfteir resumes began and ended, is

a a description of the models’ work experience

b meant to be taken literally

c meant to be taken figuratively

d a truthful statement

e an example of pathos

6. Waxing rftapsodic (line 28) most nearly means

a orchestrating a positive statement

b becoming musical

c burning a candle for

d making overtures

e becoming enthusiastic

Questions 7–9 are based on the following passage.

(1)

(5)

This s l ction int the invention of the compact disc, and o uc s t the invention of the compact disc, and h Comput the invention of the compact disc, and r d r Mus um of m ica, and an A r d d t the invention of the compact disc, and ails an

r

impo t the invention of the compact disc, and ant the invention of the compact disc, and it the invention of the compact disc, and m in it the invention of the compact disc, and s coll ction.

Wondering what to do with that old Atari Home Video Game in the attic? It’s on the wish list of the Computer Museum of America, in San Diego, California, which hopes you will donate it to their holdings The Museum was founded in 1983 to amass and preserve historic computer equipment such as calculators, card punches, and typewrit- ers, and now owns one of the world’s largest collections In addition, it has archives of computer-related magazines, manuals, and books that are available

to students, authors, researchers, and others for his- torical research

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One item currently on display is a 1920s comptometer, advertised as “The Machine Gun of the Office.” The comptometer was first sneered at by accountants and bookkeepers, many of whom could add four columns of numbers in their heads The new machine was the first that could do the work faster than humans The comptometer gained a large following, and its operation became a formal profession that required serious training But by the 1970s, computers took over, and comptometers, and the job of operating them, became obsolete

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