SAT-4 READING

At supper time, Fox-Foot would allow no fire to be built, no landing to be made, no trace of their passing to be left. They ate canned meat and marmalade, drank again of the stream and pushed on, until just at dusk they reached the edge of a long, still lake, with shores of granite and dense fir forest. As used in the text, what does the word “trace” most nearly mean?

• Evidence

• Blemish

• Amount

• Sketch

Many ancient sculptures of people’s heads are missing their noses. This is because the nose is the most______ part of a sculpture of a person’s head. It is delicate and sticks out from the rest of the sculpture, making it especially easy to break. Which choice completes the text with the most logical and precise word or phrase?

• recognizable

• fragile

• common

• sophisticated

K.D. Leka and colleagues found that the Sun’s corona provides an advance indication of solar flares—intense eruptions of electromagnetic radiation that emanate from active regions in the Sun’s photosphere and can interfere with telecommunications on Earth. Preceding a flare, the corona temporarily exhibits increased brightness above the region where the flare is _______ . Which choice completes the text with the most logical and precise word or phrase?

• antecedent

• impending

• innocuous

• perpetual

To demonstrate that the integrity of underground metal pipes can be assessed without unearthing the pipes, engineer Aroba Saleem and colleagues ________ the tendency of some metals’ internal magnetic fields to alter under stress: the team showed that such alterations can be measured from a distance and can reveal concentrations of stress in the pipes. Which choice completes the text with the most logical and precise word or phrase?

• hypothesized

• discounted

• redefined

• exploited

Despite the generalizations about human behavior they have produced, many studies of behavioral psychology have used highly unrepresentative subject pools: students at the colleges and universities where the researchers are employed. To ________ this situation, it is necessary to actively recruit subjects from diverse backgrounds and locations. Which choice completes the text with the most logical and precise word or phrase?

• sanction

• ameliorate

• rationalize

• postulate

Recently, scientists looked at data collected by NASA’s InSight lander to learn more about seismic activity on Mars, known as marsquakes. The data show that the marsquakes all started from the same location on the planet. This discovery was surprising to scientists, as they expected that the marsquakes would originate from all over the planet because of the cooling of the planet’s surface. Now, scientists believe that there could be areas of active magma flows deep beneath the planet’s surface that trigger the marsquakes. According to the text, what was surprising to scientists studying the seismic activity data from NASA’s InSight lander?

• The surface temperature of Mars has been rising.

• There were different types of seismic waves causing marsquakes.

• NASA’s InSight lander collected less data than scientists had expected.

• All the marsquakes started from the same location on the planet.

The ancient writing system used in the Maya kingdoms of southern Mexico and Central America had a symbol for the number zero. The earliest known example of the symbol dates to more than 2,000 years ago. At that time, almost none of the writing systems elsewhere in the world possessed a zero symbol. And the use of zero in Mexico and Central America may be even more ancient. Some historians suggest that Maya mathematicians inherited it from the Olmec civilization, which flourished in the region 2,400–3,600 years ago. According to the text, what do some historians suggest about Maya civilization?

• Maya civilization acquired the use of zero from the Olmec civilization.

• Maya civilization respected its historians more than it respected its mathematicians.

• Maya civilization was highly secretive about its intellectual achievements.

• Maya civilization tried to introduce its writing system to other civilizations.

“The Bet” is an 1889 short story by Anton Chekhov. In the story, a banker is described as being very upset about something: _________

Which quotation from “The Bet” most effectively illustrates the claim?

• “Then the banker cautiously broke the seals off the door and put the key in the keyhole.”

• B)

  “It struck three o’clock, the banker listened; everyone was asleep in the house and nothing could be heard outside but the rustling of the chilled trees.”

• “The banker, spoilt and frivolous, with millions beyond his reckoning, was delighted at the bet.”

• “When [the banker] got home he lay on his bed, but his tears and emotion kept him for hours from sleeping.”

“The Yellow Wallpaper” is an 1892 short story by Charlotte Perkins Gilman. In the story, the narrator expresses mixed feelings about her surroundings: _________

Which quotation from “The Yellow Wallpaper” most effectively illustrates the claim?

• “This wallpaper has a kind of sub-pattern in a different shade, a particularly irritating one, for you can only see it in certain lights, and not clearly then.”

• “By moonlight—the moon shines in all night when there is a moon—I wouldn’t know it was the same paper.”

• “I’m really getting quite fond of the big room, all but that horrid [wall]paper.”

• “The color is repellant, almost revolting; a smouldering, unclean yellow, strangely faded by the slow-turning sunlight.”

An online content creator who uses copyrighted songs without permission risks being demonetized (prohibited from including paid advertisements in content). The best way to avoid demonetization is to choose music from the public domain. Using one of these noncopyrighted songs _________ a creator won’t lose advertising revenue. Which choice completes the text so that it conforms to the conventions of Standard English?

• are ensuring

• have ensured

• ensure

• ensures