Information & Ideas - 1

A common assumption among art historians is that the invention of photography in the mid-nineteenth century displaced the painted portrait in the public consciousness. The diminishing popularity of the portrait miniature, which coincided with the rise of photography, seems to support this claim. However, photography’s impact on the portrait miniature may be overstated. Although records from art exhibitions in the Netherlands from 1820 to 1892 show a decrease in the number of both full-sized and miniature portraits submitted, this trend was established before the invention of photography. Based on the text, what can be concluded about the diminishing popularity of the portrait miniature in the nineteenth century?

• Factors other than the rise of photography may be more directly responsible for the portrait miniature’s decline.

• Although portrait miniatures became less common than photographs, they were widely regarded as having more artistic merit.

• The popularity of the portrait miniature likely persisted for longer than art historians have assumed.

• As demand for portrait miniatures decreased, portrait artists likely shifted their creative focus to photography.

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. Which choice best states the main idea of the text?

• 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.

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.

Biologists have predicted that birds’ feather structures vary with habitat temperature, but this hadn’t been tested in mountain environments. Ornithologist Sahas Barve studied feathers from 249 songbird species inhabiting different elevations—and thus experiencing different temperatures—in the Himalaya Mountains. He found that feathers of high-elevation species not only have a greater proportion of warming downy sections to fat and smooth sections than do feathers of low-elevation species, but high-elevation species’ feathers also tend to be longer, providing a thicker layer of insulation.

Which choice best states the main idea of the text?

• Barve’s investigation shows that some species of Himalayan songbirds have evolved feathers that better regulate body temperature than do the feathers of other species, contradicting previous predictions.

• Barve found an association between habitat temperature and feather structure among Himalayan songbirds, lending new support to a general prediction.

• Barve discovered that songbirds have adapted to their environment by growing feathers without fat and smooth sections, complicating an earlier hypothesis.

• The results of Barve’s study suggest that the ability of birds to withstand cold temperatures is determined more strongly by feather length than feather structure, challenging an established belief.

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.

The following text is adapted from Edgar Allan Poe’s 1849 story “Landor’s Cottage.” During a pedestrian trip last summer, through one or two of the river counties of New York, I found myself, as the day declined, somewhat embarrassed about the road I was pursuing. The land undulated very remarkably; and my path, for the last hour, had wound about and about so confusedly, in its effort to keep in the valleys, that I no longer knew in what direction lay the sweet village of B——, where I had determined to stop for the night.

Which choice best states the main idea of the text?

• The narrator remembers a trip he took and admits to getting lost.

• The narrator recalls fond memories of a journey that he took through some beautiful river counties.

• The narrator describes what he saw during a long trip through a frequently visited area.

A contraction of “you all,” the pronoun “y’all” has long been used as a plural version of “you” in the South and in Black communities around the US. In recent decades, most other English-speaking communities in the US have begun to use “y’all.” What explains its rise in popularity? Many varieties of English have no pronoun that specifcally addresses more than one person and instead must use “you” to address both one person and more than one. But “y’all” always refers to two or more people. As a result, it conveys the speaker’s meaning more precisely than “you” can.

Which question does the text most directly attempt to answer?

• How many other plural versions of the pronoun “you” are there in English, besides “y’all”?

• Why has the pronoun “y’all” become more widely used in the US?

• When was the frst recorded use of the pronoun “y’all” in the English language?

• Is “y’all” commonly used in English-speaking regions of the world besides the US?

In 1934 physicist Eugene Wigner posited the existence of a crystal consisting entirely of electrons in a honeycomb-like structure. The so-called Wigner crystal remained largely conjecture, however, until Feng Wang and colleagues announced in 2021 that they had captured an image of one. The researchers trapped electrons between two semiconductors and then cooled the apparatus, causing the electrons to settle into a crystalline structure. By inserting an ultrathin sheet of graphene above the crystal, the researchers obtained an impression—the frst visual confrmation of the Wigner crystal

Which choice best states the main idea of the text?

• Researchers have obtained the most defnitive evidence to date of the existence of the Wigner crystal.

• Researchers have identifed an innovative new method for working with unusual crystalline structures.

• Graphene is the most important of the components required to capture an image of a Wigner crystal.

• It’s difcult to acquire an image of a Wigner crystal because of the crystal’s honeycomb structure.

Paleontologist Alan Tennyson and colleagues studied fossil bones found in New Zealand that are more than 55 million years old. The researchers determined that the fossil bones belonged to two previously unknown species of prehistoric penguins. Moreover, they estimated that one of the two penguin species was more than three times the size of the emperor penguin, which is the largest penguin species that exists today.

Based on the text, which choice best describes the two previously unknown penguin species?

• They are frequently studied by paleontologists.

• They are no longer living species.

• They were smaller than penguin species that exist today.

• They spent little of their lives in water.