Read the following passages and then choose the best answer for each question.

Passage 1

Printmaking is the generic term for a number of processes, of which woodcut and engraving are two prime examples. Prints are made by pressing a sheet of paper (or other material) against an image-bearing surface to which ink has been applied. When the paper is removed, the image adheres to it, but in reverse.

The woodcut had been used in China from the fifth century A.D. for applying patterns to textiles. The process was not introduced into Europe until the fourteenth century, first for textile decoration and then for printing on paper. Woodcuts are created by a relief process; first, the artist takes a block of wood, which has been sawed parallel to the grain, covers it with a white ground, and then draws the image in ink. The background is carved away, leaving the design area slightly raised. The woodblock is inked, and the ink adheres to the raised image. It is then transferred to damp paper either by hand or with a printing press. Engraving, which grew out of the goldsmith’s art, originated in Germany and northern Italy in the middle of the fifteenth century. It is an intaglio process (from Italian intagliare, “to carve”). The image is incised into a highly polished metal plate, usually copper, with a cutting instrument, or burin. The artist inks the plate and wipes it clean so that some ink remains in the incised grooves. An impression is made on damp paper in a printing press, with sufficient pressure being applied so that the paper picks up the ink.

Both woodcut and engraving have distinctive characteristics. Engraving lends itself to subtle modeling and shading through the use of fine lines. Hatching and cross-hatching determine the degree of light and shade in a print. Woodcuts tend to be more linear, with sharper contrasts between light and dark. Printmaking is well suited to the production of multiple images. A set of multiples is called an edition. Both methods can yield several hundred good-quality prints before the original block or plate begins to show signs of wear. Mass production of prints in the sixteenth century made images available, at a lower cost, to a much broader public than before.

1. What does the passage mainly discuss?

2. The word “prime” in line 1 is closest in meaning to

3. The author’s purposes in paragraph 2 is to describe

4. The word “incised” in line 13 is closest in meaning to

5. Which of the following terms is defined in the passage؟

6. The word “distinctive” in line 15 is closest in meaning to

7. According to the passage, all of the following are true about engraving EXCEPT that it

8. The word “yield” in line 18 is closest in meaning to

9. According to the passage, what do woodcut and engraving have in common?

10. According to the author, what made it possible for members of the general public to own prints in the sixteenth century?

11. According to the passage, all of the following are true about prints EXCEPT that they

Passage 2

The origins of nest-building remain obscure, but current observation of nest-building activities provide evidence of their evolution. Clues to this evolutionary process can be found in the activities of play and in the behavior and movements of birds during mating, such as incessant pulling at strips of vegetation or scraping of the soil. During the early days of the reproductive cycle, the birds seem only to play with the building materials. In preparation for mating, they engage in activities that resemble nest-building, and continue these activities throughout and even after the mating cycle. Effective attempts at construction occur only after mating.

Although nest-building is an instinctive ability, there is considerable adaptability in both site selection and use of materials, especially with those species which build quite elaborate constructions. Furthermore, some element of learning is often evident since younger birds do not build as well as their practiced elders. Young ravens, for example, first attempt to build with sticks of quite unsuitable size, while a jackdaw’s first nest includes virtually any movable object. The novelist John Steinbeck recorded the contents of a young osprey nest built in his garden, which included three shirts, a bath towel, and one arrow.

Birds also display  remarkable behavior in collecting building materials. Crows have been seen to tear off stout green twigs, and sparrowhawks will dive purposefully onto a branch until it snaps and then hang upside down to break it off. Golden eagles, over  generations of work, construct enormous nests. One of these, examined after it had been dislodged by high winds, weighed almost two tons and included foundation branches almost two meters long. The carrying capacity of the eagles, however, is only relative to their size and most birds are able to carry an extra load  of just over twenty percent of their body weight.

1. The word “obscure” in line 1 is closest in meaning to

2. According to the passage, which of the following activities is characteristic of the early part of the reproductive cycle of birds?

3. The word “display” in line 11 is closest in meaning to…………..

4. The novelist John Steinbeck is mentioned in line 9 because he…………….

5. Which of the following birds are mentioned as those that build nests that include unusual objects?

6. According to the passage, when gathering materials to build their nests, sparrow hawks do which of the following?

7. The word “these” ,in the last paragraph, refers to…………………

8. The word “load” in line 23 is closest in meaning to…………

9. The author mentions twenty percent in line 23 to indicate that…………….

Passage 3

Of all modern instruments, the violin is apparently one of the simplest. It consists in essence of a hollow, varnished wooden sound box, or resonator, and a long neck, covered with a fingerboard, along which four strings are stretched at high tension. The beauty of Line design, shape, and decoration is no accident: the proportions of the instrument are determined almost entirely by acoustical considerations. Its simplicity of appearance is deceptive. About 70 parts are involved in the construction of a violin, Its tone and its outstanding range of expressiveness make it an ideal solo instrument. No less important. however, is its role as an orchestral and chamber instrument. In combination with the larger and deeper-sounding members of the same family, the violins form the nucleus of the modern symphony orchestra.

The violin has been in existence since about 1550. Its importance as an instrument in its own right dates from the early 1600’s, when it first became standard in Italian opera orchestras. Its stature as an orchestral instrument was raised further when in 1626 Louis XIII of France established at his court the orchestra known as Les vingt-quatre violons du Roy (The King’s 24 Violins), which was to become widely famous later in the century.

In its early history, the violin had a dull and rather quiet tone resulting from the fact that the strings were thick and were attached to the body of the instrument very loosely. During the eighteenth and nineteenth century, exciting technical changes were inspired by such composer-violinists as Vivaldi and Tartini. Their instrumental compositions demanded a fuller, clearer, and more brilliant tone that was produced by using thinner strings and a far higher string tension. Small changes had to be made to the violin’s internal structure and to the fingerboard so that they could withstand the extra strain. Accordingly, a higher standard of performance was achieved, in terms of both facility and interpretation. Left-hand technique was considerably elaborated, and new fingering patterns on the fingerboard were developed for very high notes.

1. The word “standard” in line 10 is closest in meaning to

2. “The King’s 24 Violins” is mentioned in line 12 to illustrate 

3. What is the main idea presented in paragraph 3? 

4. The author mentions Vivaldi and Tartini in line 16 as examples of composers whose music 

5. The word “they” in line 19 refers to 

6. The word “strain” in line 19 is closest in meaning to 

7. The word “Accordingly” in line 19 is closest in meaning to 

8. According to the passage, early violins were different from modern violins in that early violins 

9. According to the passage, which of the following contributes to a dull sound being produced by a violin? 

10. Which of the following terms is defined in the passage? 

11. All of the following are mentioned in the passage as contributing to the ability to play modern violin music EXCEPT ……….

Passage 4

If food is allowed to stand for some time, it putrefies. When the putrefied material is examined microscopically, it is found to be teeming with bacteria. Where do these bacteria come from , since they are not seen in fresh food? Even until the mid-nineteenth century, many people believed that such microorganisms originated by spontaneous generation, a hypothetical process by which living organisms develop from nonliving matter.

The most powerful opponent of the theory of spontaneous generation was the French chemist and microbiologist Louis Pasteur(1822-1895).Pasteur showed that structures present in air closely resemble the. microorganisms seen in putrefying materials .He did this by passing air through guncotton filters, the fibers of which stop solid particles. After the guncotton was dissolved in a mixture of alcohol and ether, the particles that it had trapped fell to the bottom of the liquid and were examined on a microscope slide .Pasteur found that in ordinary air these exists a variety of solid structures ranging in size from 0.01 mm to more than 1.0 mm .Many of these bodies resembled the reproductive structures of common molds, single-celled animals, and various other microbial cells. As many as 20 to 30 of them were found in fifteen liters of ordinary air ,and they could not be distinguished from the organisms found in much larger numbers in putrefying materials .Pasteur concluded that the organisms found in putrefying materials originated from the organized bodies present in the air. He postulated that these bodies are constantly being deposited on all objects.

Pasteur showed that if a nutrient solution was sealed in a glass flask and heated to boiling to destroy all the living organisms contaminating it, it never putrefied. The proponents of spontaneous generation declared that fresh air was necessary for spontaneous generation and that the air inside the sealed flask was affected in some way by heating so that it would no longer support spontaneous generation. Pasteur constructed a swan-necked flask in which putrefying materials could he heated to boiling, but air could reenter. The bends in the neck prevented microorganisms from getting in the flask.. Material sterilized in such a flask did not putrefy.

1. What does the passage mainly discuss?

2. The phrase “teeming with ”in line 2 is closest in meaning to 

3. Which of the following questions did the theory of spontaneous generation attempt to answer? 

4. The word “resemble” in line 7 is closest in meaning to

5.The purpose of the “guncotton” mentioned in paragraph 2 was to ……………

6. The author mention “1.0mm”in lines 11-12 in describing the…………………….

7. The word “postulated” in line 16 is closest in meaning to …………………

8. The objects that Pasteut removed from the air in his experiment were remarkable because they were ……………………..

9. The word “it” in line 18 refers to ………………………

10. According to paragraph 3,proponents of spontaneous generation believed that which of the following was important for the process to succeed ? 

11. It can be inferred from paragraph 3 that Pasteur employed a swam-necked flask to …………….