Central Idea

Believing that living in an impractical space can heighten awareness and even improve health, conceptual artists Madeline Gins and Shusaku Arakawa designed an apartment building in Japan to be more fanciful than functional. A kitchen counter is chest-high on one side and knee-high on the other; a ceiling has a door to nowhere. The effect is disorienting but invigorating: after four years there, filmmaker Nobu Yamaoka reported significant health benefits.

• Although inhabiting a home surrounded by fanciful features such as those designed by Gins and Arakawa can be rejuvenating, it is unsustainable.

• Designing disorienting spaces like those in the Gins and Arakawa building is the most effective way to create a physically stimulating environment.

• As a filmmaker, Yamaoka has long supported the designs of conceptual artists such as Gins and Arakawa.

• Although impractical, the design of the apartment building by Gins and Arakawa may improve the well-being of the building’s residents.

The most recent iteration of the immersive theater experience Sleep No More, which premiered in New York City in 2011, transforms its performance space—a five-story warehouse—into a 1930s-era hotel. Audience members, who wander through the labyrinthine venue at their own pace and follow the actors as they play out simultaneous, interweaving narrative loops, confront the impossibility of experiencing the production in its entirety. The play’s refusal of narrative coherence thus hinges on the sense of spatial fragmentation that the venue’s immense and intricate layout generates.

What does the text most strongly suggest about Sleep No More’s use of its performance space?

• The choice of a New York City venue likely enabled the play’s creators to experiment with the use of theatrical space in a way that venues from earlier productions could not.

• Audience members likely find the experience of the play disappointing because they generally cannot make their way through the entire venue.

• The production’s dependence on a particular performance environment would likely make it difficult to reproduce exactly in a different theatrical space.

• Audience members who navigate the space according to a recommended itinerary will likely have a better grasp of the play’s narrative than audience members who depart from that itinerary.

During the World War II era, some Mexican American women adopted a striking new look called pachuca style. They wore altered men’s jackets or zoot suits (wide-legged, long-coated suits) and dramatic makeup, and they combed their hair into high, rounded shapes. Some people criticized pachuca style, saying it was dangerous and women should dress traditionally. But historians see things differently. They see pachuca style as a form of rebellion against the era’s rigid social expectations for women. They say that it showed a desire for self-expression and freedom on the part of women who adopted the style.

According to the text, how do historians view pachuca style?

• They think that pachuca style was such a popular trend that it continues to influence fashion in the United States to the present day.

• They think that pachuca style was a way for some Mexican American women to express themselves and resist strict social expectations.

• They think that pachuca style was celebrated because it enabled some Mexican American women to show their support for the United States during World War II.

• They think that pachuca style was similar to other fashion trends that different groups of women adopted in the same period.

Utah is home to Pando, a colony of about 47,000 quaking aspen trees that all share a single root system. Pando is one of the largest single organisms by mass on Earth, but ecologists are worried that its growth is declining in part because of grazing by animals. The ecologists say that strong fences could prevent deer from eating young trees and help Pando start thriving again.

According to the text, why are ecologists worried about Pando?

• It isn’t growing at the same rate it used to.

• It isn’t producing young trees anymore.

• It can’t grow into new areas because it is blocked by fences.

• Its root system can’t support many more new trees.

To understand how temperature change affects microorganism-mediated cycling of soil nutrients in alpine ecosystems, Eva Kaštovská et al. collected plant-soil cores in the Tatra Mountains at elevations around 2,100 meters and transplanted them to elevations of 1,700 1,800 meters, where the mean air temperature was warmer by 2°C. Microorganism-mediated nutrient cycling was accelerated in the transplanted cores; crucially, microorganism community composition was unchanged, allowing Kaštovská et al. to attribute the acceleration to temperature-induced increases in microorganism activity. 

It can most reasonably be inferred from the text that the finding about the microorganism community composition was important for which reason?

• It provided preliminary evidence that microorganism-mediated nutrient cycling was accelerated in the transplanted cores.

• It suggested that temperature-induced changes in microorganism activity may be occurring at increasingly high elevations.

• It ruled out a potential alternative explanation for the acceleration in microorganism-mediated nutrient cycling.

• It clarified that microorganism activity levels in the plant-soil cores varied depending on which microorganisms comprised the community.

Elinor, this eldest daughter, whose advice was so effectual, possessed a strength of understanding, and coolness of judgment, which qualified her, though only nineteen, to be the counsellor of her mother, and enabled her frequently to counteract, to the advantage of them all, that eagerness of mind in Mrs. Dashwood which must generally have led to imprudence. She had an excellent heart;—her disposition was affectionate, and her feelings were strong; but she knew how to govern them: it was a knowledge which her mother had yet to learn; and which one of her sisters had resolved never to be taught.

According to the text, what is true about Elinor?

• Elinor often argues with her mother but fails to change her mind.

• Elinor can be overly sensitive with regard to family matters.

• Elinor thinks her mother is a bad role model.

• Elinor is remarkably mature for her age.

Many literary theorists distinguish between fabula, a narrative’s content, and syuzhet, a narrative’s arrangement and presentation of events. In the film The Godfather Part II, the fabula is the story of the Corleone family, and the syuzhet is the presentation of the story as it alternates between two timelines in 1901 and 1958. But literary theorist Mikhail Bakhtin maintained that fabula and syuzhet are insufficient to completely describe a narrative—he held that systematic categorizations of artistic phenomena discount the subtle way in which meaning is created by interactions between the artist, the work, and the audience.

Which choice best states the main idea of the text?

• Literary theorist Mikhail Bakhtin argued that there are important characteristics of narratives that are not fully encompassed by two concepts that other theorists have used to analyze narratives.

• Literary theorist Mikhail Bakhtin claimed that meaning is not inherent in a narrative but is created when an audience encounters a narrative so that narratives are interpreted differently by different people.

• The storytelling methods used in The Godfather Part II may seem unusually complicated, but they can be easily understood when two concepts from literary theory are utilized.

• Narratives that are told out of chronological order are more difficult for audiences to understand than are narratives presented chronologically.

When fashion designer Lloyd Henri Kiva New opened his store in Scottsdale, Arizona, in 1945, he quickly became known for creating delicately crafted leather goods, like belts and hats. He was perhaps most renowned for his colorful handbags, which he made by hand using a long and painstaking process. As he gained more customers, New began using sewing machines and other tools to help him produce bags more efficiently, though he continued to handcraft the crucial details that made each bag unique.

Based on the text, what would have been the most likely consequence if New had not begun using sewing machines?

• He would have been unable to ensure that each bag included unique, handcrafted details.

• He would have struggled to meet the increasing demand for his bags.

• He would have had to individually design each bag he produced.

• He would not have been able to generate as much interest in his bags.

Paleontologists searching for signs of ancient life have found many fossilized specimens of prehistoric human ancestors, including several from the Pleistocene era discovered in a geological formation in the Minatogawa quarry in Japan. However, to study the emergence of the earliest multicellular organisms to appear on Earth, researchers must turn elsewhere, such as to the Ediacaran geological formation at Mistaken Point in Canada. A UNESCO World Heritage Site, the 146-hectare reserve contains more than 10,000 fossils that together document a critical moment in evolutionary history.

What does the text indicate about the geological formation at Mistaken Point?

• It holds a greater number of fossils but from a smaller variety of species than the formation in the Minatogawa quarry does.

• It has provided evidence that the earliest human species may have emerged before the Pleistocene era.

• It is widely considered by paleontologists to be the most valuable source of information about prehistoric life forms.

• It contains specimens from an older time period than those found in the formation in the Minatogawa quarry.

It is a saying in the capital of Mexico that Dr. Malsufrido carries more family secrets under his hat than any archbishop. The doctor’s hat is, appropriately enough, uncommonly capacious, rising very high, and sinking so low that it seems to be supported by his ears and eyebrows, and it has a furry look, as if it had been brushed the wrong way, which is perhaps what happens to it if it is ever brushed at all. When the doctor takes it off, the family secrets do not fly out like a f lock of parrots, but remain nicely bottled up beneath a dome of old and highly polished ivory

Based on the text, how do people in the capital of Mexico most likely regard Dr. Malsufrido?

• Many have come to tolerate him despite his disheveled appearance.

• Few feel concerned that he will divulge their confidences.

• Some dislike how freely he discusses his own family.

• Most would be unimpressed by him were it not for his professional expertise.