Passage Based Reading: Answers & Explanations
1. Ans : E, because the author talks about survival they threats of annihilation.
2. Ans : C, because he wanted the war to start, but she wanted to keep peace
and not show that he was encouraging it
3. Ans : D, because the author clearly states the opinion of
nations in possession of huge stockpiles of
lethal weapons are trying hard to avoid actual conflict.
4. Ans : D, because irrepressible means unrestrainable. Which means death or a dark side.
5. Ans : B, because in the passage they author starts to describe what a phenomenon.
6. Ans : A , because it says in the passage that happens. So ‘A’ is the best possible answer.
7. Explanation for Correct Answer B :
Choice (B) is correct. The author identifies the starting point of her research project
when she writes “My search had begun in libraries and archives—repositories of
conventional history” (lines 36-37). In these places, she discovered that the
“available sources were to be found in census reports, church records, directories,
and other such statistical information” (lines 37-39). These sources all share the
characteristic of being written public materials.
8. Explanation for Correct Answer D :
Choice (D) is correct. The “census reports, church records and directories” (line 38)
are representative of the “available sources” (line 37) that the author finds
inadequate specifically because they “cannot provide one of the essential dimensions
of history, the full narrative of the human experience” (lines 40-42). That is, they do
not tell the human side of the story.
9. Explanation for Correct Answer C :
Choice (C) is correct. The “gap” (line 43) is discussed in the context of written
sources and the pictures of life they represent. The author discovered that fact-based
conventional records lacked “one of the essential dimensions of history, the full
narrative of the human experience” (lines 40-42). She suggests that “diaries,
memoirs, and letters” (lines 43-44), which are included in the category of “personal
written sources” (lines 48-49), would present that other viewpoint. The “gap” lies
between these two types of sources.
10. Explanation for Correct Answer C :
Choice (C) is correct. A "role" is the position or the expected social behavior of an
individual. When the author writes "I was initially unsure of my place" (lines 58-59),
she is expressing uncertainty about how she should think of herself and about how
she is perceived by doña Teodora and other Mexicana interviewees. In this context,
"place" refers to her social "role." This is made clear in the subsequent text, when
she wonders if, despite speaking Spanish and being Mexicana, she is an "insider"
(line 59) or an "outsider" (line 62).
11. Explanation for Correct Answer A :
Choice (A) is correct. The author acknowledges that she is connected to doña
Teodora and other Mexicana interviewees through their shared ethnicity and
language. She writes, "I could speak Spanish and am Mexicana" (line 61). Yet the
author wonders if she was "still an outsider" (line 62). The fact that she raises this
question suggests that sharing these common bonds might not be enough to make
her an insider.
Passage Based Reading: Answers & Explanations
12. Explanation for Correct Answer E :
Choice (E) is correct. The author suggests that the spoken word can provide greater
insight than the existing theories and models that are “derived solely from victorious
imperialistic experiences” (lines 66-67). These presently accepted theories and
models are considered problematic by the author because they were developed
without the insights of the Mexican people. She argues that “theoretical constructs
must follow the voices of the people who live the reality” (lines 74-75).
13. Explanation for Correct Answer A :
Choice (A) is correct. Lines 69-70 suggest that the “concepts” will originate in the
“new sources” (line 68), which, the passage implies, are the oral histories and
personal written sources of ordinary people. These new sources of information “will
determine which concepts are needed to illuminate and interpret the past, and these
concepts will emerge from the people themselves” (lines 69-71).
14. Explanation for Correct Answer A :
Choice (A) is correct. Passage 1 discusses stage fright by focusing on the
vulnerability of the actor, explaining why “appearing in front of an audience is a
scary proposition” (lines 3-4). So Passage 1 can be said to analyze a phenomenon.
Passage 2 similarly addresses the experience of stage fright, but discusses ways of
coping with it. So Passage 2 can be said to suggest a solution to a problem.
15. Explanation for Correct Answer C :
Choice (C) is correct. Passage 1 suggests that “maintaining the reality of the
character” involves the “unique problem of hiding and showing at the same time”
(lines 4-7). The text further suggests that the actor must not allow “the audience to
see something it is not supposed to see: namely, the performer's fear, or stage
fright” (lines 9-11). This suggests that the actor must hide things that do not relate
to the character and, by extension, show the audience only behavior relevant to the
character.
16. Explanation for Correct Answer C :
Choice (C) is correct. Passage 1 specifically suggests that “performance” is the
“domain of stage fright” (lines 1-2). Passage 1 emphasizes that situations unique to
the theater contribute to stage fright. Passage 2 states that “the key to most fears is
substitution” (lines 17-18), and shows how actors can use substitution to overcome
stage fright. Passage 2 thus sees stage fright as “similar in one way to most other
fears.”
17. Explanation for Correct Answer B :
Choice (B) is correct. The author gives the following advice to actors: “If you will . . .
think more about the comfort of your listeners than their verdicts, everything will fall
into place” (lines 20-23). A performer who thinks of the audience as friends would be
following this advice.
18. Explanation for Correct Answer B :
Choice (B) is correct. The author opens by explaining how “[t]he world can be
classified in different ways” (line 1) and states that “[t]he classifications . . .
determine which comparisons seem natural or unnatural, which literal or analogical”
(lines 3-6). The passage then shows how comparisons differ according to which
system of classification is used.
comparison between species.”
Passage Based Reading: Answers & Explanations
19. Explanation for Correct Answer D :
Choice (D) is correct. The Aristotelian classification scheme is hierarchical, with only
three possible classifications:
1) vegetative only;
2) vegetative plus sensory only;
3) vegetative plus sensory plus rational.
Accordingly, species possessing a rational soul must possess a sensory soul because
they are a subset of the group possessing a sensory soul.
20. Explanation for Correct Answer A :
Choice (A) is correct. The Aristotelian scheme classifies species according to a
hierarchy with all species included in the bottom layer (possessing a vegetative
soul), some from the bottom layer included in the middle layer (also possessing a
sensory soul), and some from the middle layer included in the top layer (also
possessing a rational soul). Comparisons are only legitimate regarding soul types the
species have in common (lines 26-34); comparisons between species regarding a
type of soul found only in one are “merely analogical” (lines 33-34). Since all living
organisms have a vegetative soul, comparisons on the basis of this attribute are
always legitimate. However, since only some living organisms have a sensory soul,
and only species at the top of the hierarchy have a rational soul, comparisons with
respect to these attributes cannot be legitimately made among all living creatures.
21. Explanation for Correct Answer E :
Choice (E) is correct. Through exaggeration and sarcasm, the author ridicules
people's need for greater distinction. The author suggests that this need stems from
defensiveness and insecurity: "it is very important that the species to which we
belong be uniquely unique. It is of utmost importance that the human species be
insulated from all other species with respect to how we explain certain qualities."
(lines 41-45). The author then implies that whether a capability is classified as
strictly human depends on how it is defined, thus making the classification subject to
opinion and bias: "even if 'language' is so defined that the waggle dance slips in"
(lines 53-54).
22. Explanation for Correct Answer B :
Choice (B) is correct. The author indicates that when referring to the uniqueness of
Homo sapiens, the general uniqueness of all species "is not enough for many
(probably most) people" (lines 39-40). This exaggeration and subsequent examples
are used to ridicule the need people have to define Homo sapiens as "uniquely
unique" (line 42). The examples of how human beings distinguish themselves from
other species are likewise sarcastic and disapproving: "No matter how ingenious
other species get in the manipulation of objects in their environment, it is absolutely
essential that nothing they do count as 'tool use'" (lines 56-59).
23. Explanation for Correct Answer B :
Choice (B) is correct. The subsequent text explains that each species is unique in
accordance with its separate and distinct position in the classification schemes.
However, many humans see Homo sapiens as also being distinguished for reasons
existing outside the classification systems. The text provides examples of how
certain abilities are not considered shared by any other species and are thus
distinctly human: “For some reason, it is very important that the waggle dance
performed by bees not count as a genuine language” (lines 47-49) and “No matter
how ingenious other species get in the manipulation of objects in their environment,
it is absolutely essential that nothing they do count as ‘tool use’” (lines 56-59).
Passage Based Reading: Answers & Explanations
24. Explanation for Correct Answer D :
Choice (D) is correct. "Segregated from" means separated from or kept distinct from.
The surrounding text discusses how human beings want to distinguish their species
on grounds outside of the classification systems by which every species is considered
unique. Examples are used to illustrate how people try to characterize certain
abilities of Homo sapiens as not shared by any other species and thus, "uniquely
unique" (line 42): "For some reason, it is very important that the waggle dance
performed by bees not count as a genuine language" (lines 47-49). The example of
the definition of tools to exclude use by other species is offered in the same light.
Thus, the author emphasizes people's need to be "segregated from" other species.
25. Explanation for Correct Answer C :
Choice (C) is correct. Through exaggeration and sarcasm, the author indicates that
attempts to distinguish Homo sapiens from animals on the basis of certain abilities
not related to the classification schemes are ridiculous, subjective, and futile: “little
is gained” (line 52). It is those who insist that Homo sapiens and animals be seen as
separate who are the subjects of the author's criticism.