Braille Challenge
2013 Preliminary
Varsity
Reading Comprehension – Passage 1
Linguistics
Linguistics is the scientific study of human language. Linguistics can be
broadly broken into three categories or subfields of study: language form,
language meaning, and language in context. The earliest known descriptive
linguistics activities are said to have been Panini's Ashtadhyayi around 500 B.C.E.
with the analysis of Sanskrit.
The study of language structure, or grammar, focuses on the system of rules
followed by the speakers (or hearers) of a language. It encompasses phonology
(sound systems), morphology (the formation and composition of words), and
syntax (the formation and composition of phrases and sentences from these
words). Phonemes, the smallest units of speech that distinguish one word from
another, are the building blocks of language. A word like "cat" is composed of
three phonemes, the sounds made by the letters c, a, and t. The word "thread"
has four phonemes (even though it has six letters), since the "th" and "ea" are
digraphs that only represent a single sound. Its phonemes would be the sounds
represented by the letters th, r, ea, and d.
The next level of linguistic building blocks involves morphemes, the smallest
parts of words that convey meaning. The word "frog", a group of four phonemes,
represents one morpheme or meaningful unit of speech. If the letter "s" is added
to make "frogs", the word now has two morphemes: the base word indicating the
name of the animal and the suffix "s" indicating the noun is plural. When words are
put together to form sentences, specific rules of syntax dictate their order and
usage. These rules may differ from one language to another.
The study of language meaning is concerned with how languages employ
logical structures and real-world references to convey meaning, as well as to
manage and resolve ambiguity. This subfield encompasses semantics (how
meaning is inferred from words and concepts) and pragmatics (the way language
relates to the environment in which it occurs). Linguists point out that sentences
can have perfect syntax, such as "Furry yellow windows cook heatedly", but make
no sense whatsoever. Obviously, there is more to meaningful language than just
correct structure. Other sentences may have several possible meanings. For
example, hearing the sentence "A dog greeted every child", the listener is unsure
whether there was only one dog or many. The area of pragmatics goes beyond
linguistic knowledge to consider the context in which words, phrases, and
sentences are spoken. A listener's understanding of the simple sentence "Bob is
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finally home" may differ depending on where Bob has been (on a trip? in the
hospital?) and how long he was away.
Linguistics in its broader context includes evolutionary linguistics, which
considers the origins of language; historical linguistics, which explores the
etymology of words and the way they have changed; sociolinguistics, which looks
at the relation between linguistic variation and social structures; psycholinguistics,
which explores the representation and function of language in the mind; and
neurolinguistics, which looks at language processing in the brain.
Questions for “Linguistics”
1. What subfield of linguistics might be used to determine the meaning of
"precocial" while hearing or reading the sentence below?
Killdeer hatchlings are precocial birds that are able to see, run, and forage
soon after hatching.
a. semantics
b. phonetics
c. pragmatics
d. sociolinguistics
2. In English, adjectives are placed before the noun they modify. However, in
French, only a few specific adjectives come before the noun, and the rest follow
it. These two languages have different rules of _____ for adjective placement.
a. syntax
b. morphology
c. phonetics
d. semiotics
3. Brain scans reveal that when people who learned braille as children read
tactually, they use their visual cortex, the same area of the brain as sighted
people use when reading print. This type of research occurs in the field of
_____
a. sociolinguistics.
b. evolutionary linguistics.
c. psycholinguistics.
d. neurolinguistics.
4. The earliest known language to be analyzed linguistically was _____
a. Hebrew.
b. Sanskrit.
c. Mandarin.
d. Greek.
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5. How many phonemes are in the word "peach"?
a. 2
b. 3
c. 4
d. 5
6. In which word is "ed" a morpheme with a meaning of its own?
a. educate
b. ambushed
c. seed
d. redirect
7. Which sentence is structurally correct, but lacking in logical meaning?
a. Four years ago I left my job and traveled around the world.
b. I am hoping to attend the University of Virginia when I graduate.
c. Once my father was well enough, we visited his boyhood home in
Kentucky.
d. We earned fifty dollars tomorrow cutting grass and weeding the garden.
8. In the sentence "A dog greeted every child", the meaning is _____
a. logical.
b. ambiguous.
c. pragmatic.
d. based on morphology.
9. Both semantics and pragmatics relate to meaning. What is the difference
between them?
a. Semantics involves linguistic knowledge, while pragmatics focuses on
knowledge outside of language.
b. Semantics deals with meaning in spoken language, while pragmatics
concerns meaning in written language.
c. Semantics includes the areas of morphology and phonology, while
pragmatics takes into account people's facial expressions and gestures
as they speak.
d. Semantics studies ambiguous language, while pragmatics looks only at
language that is clear and logical.
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10. Knowing that the Latin word "natare" means "to swim", Ellyn deduced that a
"natatorium" was probably a swimming pool. What did she use to determine
the meaning of this unfamiliar word?
a. its syntax
b. its etymology
c. its phonemes
d. its context
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Braille Challenge
2013 Preliminary
Varsity
Reading Comprehension – Passage 2
Six Revolutionary Inventions from 1885
The Motorcycle
German engineer Gottlieb Daimler was a driven man. Intent on inventing a highspeed, gas-fed, internal combustion engine, he and his partner, Wilhelm Maybach,
tested their motor on the simplest vehicle they could find — a wood-wheeled bike.
They pulled off the pedals, affixed their engine to the frame, and, with a trial run,
the easy rider was born. The duo didn't monetize their motorized bike; instead,
they went down a different road and created a car (and founded what later became
the Daimler AG company). But tinkerers took their idea and ran with it. The result:
an estimated 200 million motorcycles on roads today.
Canned Evaporated Milk
Before widespread refrigeration and regulation, raw milk could deliver as much
bacteria as it did calcium — that is, until John Meyenberg's Illinois factory began
churning out evaporated milk. His apparatus killed the bugs, concentrated
nutrients, and turned the bone builder into a shelf-stable staple. The company
later labeled the product PET® Milk, a brand that is still sold in grocery stores.
The Fabergé Egg
Czar Alexander III might have shelled out 4,151 rubles (about $43,000 in today's
dollars) for his wife's Easter gift in 1885, but it was a priceless present: a goldand-gemstone egg, crafted by jeweler Carl Fabergé, that hid a ruby-eyed hen and
kicked off a tradition of lavish love tokens among Russian royalty. Fabergé
created some 50 of the opulent eggs over the next three decades; the
extravaganza ended with the 1917 Bolshevik Revolution.
The Toothbrush
Oral hygiene in 1880s America was nothing to smile about. Thanks to soaring
sugar consumption and fluoride-free water, cavities were commonplace. Jars of
tooth-cleaning paste went for jaw-dropping prices — roughly half a day's wages for
a manual laborer — and expensive, hand-carved toothbrushes were as likely to
appear in the average home as the tooth fairy. Enter Manhattan dentist Meyer
Rhein, who, with the Florence Manufacturing Company of Massachusetts,
engineered a mass-produced, budget-friendly brush. Crafted of animal bone and
boar's-hair bristles, it had its drawbacks — the bristles trapped bacteria and
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frequently fell out — but for 35 cents, it helped keep molars, bicuspids, canines,
and incisors clean more than a century before Sonicare™.
Huckleberry Finn
Mark Twain was already a literary legend when his The Adventures of Huckleberry
Finn debuted in America to a tepid commercial and critical response. But the
classic coming-of-age tale, chronicling the antebellum adventures of tweenager
Huck and the runaway slave Jim, eventually brought Twain acclaim for his
explorations of racism and use of everyday language (like the word "ain't" in the
book's first sentence).
The Skyscraper
With Chicago real estate prices climbing, the Windy City's business district had
nowhere to go but up — and architect William Le Baron Jenney obliged with the
Home Insurance Building. The 138-foot-tall tower had 10 floors supported by a
weight-dispersing steel skeleton, an innovation so radical civic leaders briefly
halted construction in order to satisfy skeptics of its safety. Jenney's high-rise was
demolished in 1931, but it ushered in every subsequent skyscraper, from the 110story Willis (formerly Sears) Tower to the 160-plus-story Burj Dubai.
Questions for “Six Revolutionary Inventions from 1885”
1. Which of the following statements about the inventions is true?
a. PET® Milk was originally intended for animals.
b. Meyer Rhein's toothbrush improved oral hygiene because it prevented
bacteria from getting into the mouth.
c. Daimier and Maybach made no money off of their motorcycle invention.
d. The Home Insurance Building was not safe and had to be torn down.
2. Which statement might be made by a skeptic?
a. I'm not reading The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn because I've heard it
contains bad language.
b. I don't believe this egg is decorated with real jewels.
c. This motorized bike would work better with a metal frame.
d. I bet they'll be able to build skyscrapers with more than ten floors very
soon!
3. Why was Meyer Rhein able to sell his toothbrushes for a reasonable price?
a. They were made in great quantities from simple materials.
b. People knew they would prevent cavities.
c. They were guaranteed to last for at least a year.
d. The price of tooth-cleaning paste went down at the same time.
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4. The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn takes place _____
a. during the second half of the 18th century.
b. around 1885 when Mark Twain wrote it.
c. at the beginning of World War I.
d. before the Civil War.
5. Which inventors contributed to the health of the population?
a. Rhein and Meyenberg
b. Meyenberg and Jenney
c. Maybach and Rhein
d. Daimer and Fabergé
6. When The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn was first published, _____
a. readers loved it, even though the reviews were less than enthusiastic.
b. the reviews were only moderately favorable, and sales were not strong.
c. many people refused to read the book because of its everyday language
and exploration of racism.
d. the reviews were positive, but few people bought the book.
7. What is the prevailing theme of this passage?
a. The creators of these inventions are all household names today.
b. All of these inventions were conceived within the same short timeframe.
c. People gained independence as a result of these inventions.
d. These inventions all represented significant technological advances.
8. An item with a jaw-dropping price, as described in this passage, is _____
a. not as desirable as similar items of comparable quality.
b. a bargain.
c. extremely expensive.
d. often purchased by people of modest means.
9. Complete this sentence. The lobby of the skyscraper was far from opulent; in
fact, it was totally _______
a. impoverished.
b. elegant.
c. dilapidated.
d. deprived
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10. With the advent of refrigeration and regulation of the milk industry, it might be
expected that _____
a. people would begin to buy more regular, non-evaporated milk and less
PET® Milk.
b. the shelf life of PET® Milk would decrease.
c. regular, non-evaporated milk would present more bacterial hazards to the
consumer than before.
d. PET® Milk would become a more popular product.
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