For each of the questions in this section, you are to select from the four suggested answers the one that is best and fill in the corresponding choice on your answer sheet.
Questions will test how well you understand certain passages. Answer these questions on the basis of what is stated or implied in the passage.
After the following passage, there are sample questions followed by explanations of the best answers.
Questions 1?4
1There is a great deal of communication between Chinese teachers and
parents, especially when the younger children move into new school settings.
2Some communication takes place informally when parents walk young children
to the school or pick them up, but there are a number of other more formal
modes of communication, usually initiated by the schools. 3These
include meetings for parents, most often held early in the school year
or at the end of the year, visits from teachers to the homes of the students,
and small notebooks that pass back and forth between school and home, referred
to as “communication books” or “connection notebooks.” 4The exchange
between school and home in China, apparently so much more fluid and continuous
than that in the United States, may be the result of the more stable and
tighter organization of Chinese neighborhoods. 5Schools generally
seem to be less isolated from homes in China than they are in the West.
1. The main idea in this passage is that
(A) schools in China are better organized than are schools in
the United States
(B) communication between teachers and parents in the United
States is poor
(C) Chinese parents and teachers communicate frequently with
each other
(D) communication between parents and teachers eliminates certain
problems in China’s schools
The first sentence of the paragraph indicates what the paragraph is about, and the idea of that first sentence is contained in choice (C). Organization of schools and problems in the schools are not mentioned in the paragraph, and (B) may be implied in the passage but it is not the main idea. Students who did not answer this question correctly were clearly not reading the passage carefully.
2. According to this passage, most informal communication between Chinese
parents and teachers occurs
(A) at the beginning and end of a young child’s school day
(B) when a child is doing well enough to be promoted
(C) when parents voluntarily come to the school to inquire about
the child’s progress
(D) when parents request that the teacher visit them at home
The answer to this question is contained in the second sentence of the paragraph. Choice (A) restates the information provided there.
3. The author suggests that the school-family connection in China is
(A) similar in most aspects to what it is in the United States
(B) supported by neighborhood organizations
(C) stronger than it is in the United States
(D) usually controlled by the parents
The inference is based on the last two sentences. To arrive at (C) the student needs to understand the implications of “more fluid and continuous” and “less isolated from.”
4. What is the function of sentence 5 in the passage?
(A) It clarifies and concludes ideas presented in sentence 4.
(B) It introduces an implied comparison.
(C) It provides an exception to a point made in sentence 4.
(D) It introduces a new idea.
Sentence 5 continues the comparison between parent-teacher communication in China and parent-teacher communication in the United States, restating the comparison directly and briefly. Sentence 5 therefore functions in relation to sentence 4 as described in choice (A).
The following passage is followed by sample questions without explanations.
1In at least one sense, the years had been kind to Rachel Isum Robinson, the wife of the first Black baseball player to be a member of a major league team. 2She remained a handsome woman, with soft, unlined skin. 3Escorting y wife and me into her living room, she walked with elegance and there was a warmth to her manner, and the two, elegance and warmth, blended into graciousness. 4”Won’t you sit down?” 5On one side of the spacious room, a window wall overlooked a bright lawn and water. 6Opposite, gray stone arched above the fireplace, no visible mortar interrupted the flow of stone. 7”The builder,” Rachel said, “was marvelous. 8He meant this place to be a monument; of course, we have never been sure whether for us or for him.” 9She climbed two carpeted stairs into the dining alcove and returned with refreshments. 10Only then did we start to talk. 11”One thing about my background in California was that I was brought up to be as ladylike as possible. 12I was taught not to be aggressive. 13And then, marrying Jack, I was in the middle of a struggle where — well, without aggressive behavior, it would have failed. 14There was an aggressiveness to Jack’s whole career in baseball. 15It was a kind of objection to the White society.” 16”A very mild objection.” 17Treading softly, Jackie Robinson had entered his living room. 18”Go on, go on,” he said quietly.
5. The main purpose of the passage is to
(A) suggest the close relationship between the Robinsons
(B) suggest Rachel Robinson’s character
(C) analyze Rachel Robinson’s motives
(D) analyze the effects of the Robinsons’ struggle
6. The first sentence suggests that Rachel Robinson
(A) works had to forget the past
(B) dislikes intrusion into her life
(C) has not led a carefree life
(D) works hard to control her emotions
7. The author’s attitude toward Rachel Robinson is one of
(A) grudging respect
(B) reserved judgment
(C) admiration
(D) neutrality