Final Mock Test 2 Verbal Module 1

Few new parents _______ that their baby will someday become an astronaut, yet if Jerry L. Ross’s parents had made this prediction when he was born in 1948, they would have been correct, for NASA selected him for the job in 1980.
Which choice completes the text with the most logical and precise word or phrase?

• 
  Disagree

• 
  Ignore

• 
  Require

• 
  Anticipate

Some features, such as the mihrab (or niche), are present in nearly every mosque. But mosque often reflect multiple architectural styles, resulting in a unique ______ of those influences, as in the case of the Sheikh Zayed Mosque, which combines elements from the Persian, Mughal, and Moorish styles.
Which choice completes the text with the most logical and precise word or phrase?

• 
  Fusion

• 
  Dismissal

• Critique

• Simplification

The following text is from Kenneth Grahame’s 1908 novel The Wind in the Willows, The Rat is looking for the Mole, his friend, in the woods.
[The Rat] had patiently hunted through the wood for an hour or more, when at last to his joy he heard a little answering cry. Guiding himself by the sound, he made his way through the gathering darkness to the foot of an old beech tree.
As used in the text, what does the word “guiding” most nearly mean?

• Withdrawing

• Presenting

• Instructing

• Steering

cAlfred Nobel intended for the Nobel Prize to be an award honoring those who have contributed “the greatest benefit to mankind.” Indeed, the work of Richard Laurence Millington Synge represented a significant _______ the field of chemistry, and in 1952 he was among those awarded the Nobel Prize in Chemistry for “their invention of partition chromatography.”
Which choice completes the text with the most logical and precise word or phrase?

• controversy in

• 
  exposure to

• 
  dependence on

• 
  advancement in

The arrival of humans to the Americas is thought to have ______ a sudden decrease in biodiversity throughout the continents. Although the extinction of species like the toxodon was likely the result of a combination of factors, from decreasing food sources to habitat destruction, most of these factors can be directly tied to the presence of humans.
Which choice completes the text with the most logical and precise word or phrase?

• Followed

• 
  Prolonged

• 
  Counteracted

• 
  Triggered

Some robots such as Surena (developed in 2008) and COMAN (developed in 2012) are designed to resemble humans so that people will find it easier to interact with them. To this end, certain features such as the ability to respond to voice commands can help to create the comforting semblance of humanity, but a robot that appears too similar to humans can make people feel more unsettled than ______ .
Which choice completes the text with the most logical and precise word or phrase?

• 
  Soothed

• Indifferent
  

• 
  Revolted

• 
  Vindicated

The following text is Rainer Maria Rilke’s 1897 poem “Evening” (translated by Jessie Lamont in 1918).

The bleak fields are asleep,
My heart alone wakes;
The evening in the harbour
Down his red sails takes.

Night, guardian of dreams,
Now wanders through the land;
The moon, a lily white,
Blossoms within her hand.

Which choice best describes the function of the underlined portion in the text as a whole?

• 
  It conveys the speaker’s sense that he is alone while experiencing the evening.

• 
  It shows that the speaker would rather look at the fields than at the water.

• 
  It indicates the speaker’s disappointment that other people dislike rural settings.

• 
  It explains why the speaker has woken up from sleeping.

When people think of dinosaurs with feathers, they typically think of winged dinosaurs, such as the bat-like Ambopteryx. However, many dinosaurs that didn’t have wings also had feathers on their bodies. For instance, research indicates that the wingless, large Yutyrannus likely had feathers.

Which choice best states the main purpose of the text?

• 
  To discuss the presence of feathers on certain types of dinosaurs

• 
  To point out the differences between dinosaur feathers and bird feathers

• 
  To explain why feathered dinosaurs went extinct

• 
  To argue that only one species of dinosaur had feathers

Text 1
In 2017 Buenaventura, Colombia, was named a City of Gastronomy by UNESCO in recognition of the city’s unique food culture. The honor is well known among residents of the city as well as tourists who visit. It’s obvious that the selection of Buenaventura by UNESCO has brought awareness to local recipes, cooking practices, and chefs and has provided a boost to the city’s tourism industry.


Text 2
Many people in Buenaventura’s restaurant industry hoped that food tourism would increase after the city was chosen as a City of Gastronomy in 2017. However, as researcher Eerang Park and colleagues argue, cities must still create effective marketing strategies to benefit fully from being named a City of Gastronomy. Without an intentional effort to promote the city’s food scene, many current and potential visitors to Buenaventura may not even be aware that it’s home to uniquely delicious food.

Based on the texts, what would the author of Text 2, most likely say in response to the underlined claim in Text 1?

• A city UNESCO officially names as a City of Gastronomy should still make deliberate efforts to attract visitors interested in food tourism.

• 
  Many people worked together to help Buenaventura be recognized by UNESCO, but chefs deserve the most credit for Buenaventura’s selection as a City of Gastronomy.

• 
  There are other benefits to being named a UNESCO City of Gastronomy besides increased tourism.

• 
  The naming of Buenaventura as a City of Gastronomy was long overdue, given the city’s delicious food.

In a study by Mika R. Moran, Daniel A. Rodriguez, and colleagues, residents of Panama City, Panama, and Fortaleza, Brazil, were surveyed about parks in their cities. Of the 318 respondents from Panama City, 53.5% indicated that they use the city’s parks, and of the 938 respondents from Fortaleza, 35.7% indicated using city parks. Given that the percentage of Panama City respondents who reported living within a 10-minute walk of a park was much lower than that reported by Fortaleza respondents, greater proximity alone can’t explain the difference in park use.

The text makes which point about the difference between the proportions of Panama City residents and Fortaleza residents using parks?

• 
  It was much larger than the researchers conducting the study expected.

• It could be due to inaccuracies in the survey results.

• 
  It was calculated using sources that predate the survey.

• 
  It is caused by something other than the parks’ proximity to the city's residents.