11.2 Cross Text Connection-Hard

Text 1

Despite its beautiful prose,The Guns of August,Barbara Tuchman's 1962 analysis of the start of World War I,has certain weaknesses as a work of history.It fails to address events in Eastern Europe just before the outbreak of hostilities,thereby giving the impression that Germany was the war's principal instigator.Had Tuchman consulted secondary works available to her by scholars such as Luigi Albertini,she would not have neglected the influence of events in Eastern Europe on Germany's actions.

 

Text 2

Barbara Tuchman's The Guns of August is an engrossing if dated introduction to World War I. Tuchman's analysis of primary documents is laudable,but her main thesis that European powers committed themselves to a catastrophic outcome by refusing to deviate from military plans developed prior to the conflict is implausibly reductive.

 

Which choice best describes a difference in how the authors of Text 1 and Text 2 view Barbara Tuchman's The Guns of August?

• A.The author of Text 1 believes that the scope of Tuchman's research led her to an incorrect interpretation,while the author of Text 2 believes that Tuchman's central argument is overly simplistic.

• B.The author of Text  1 argues that Tuchman should have relied more on the work of other historians,while the author of Text 2 implies that Tuchman's most interesting claims result from her original research.

• C.The author of Text 1 asserts that the writing style of The Guns of August makes it worthwhile to read despite any perceived deficiency in Tuchman's research,while the author of Text 2 focuses exclusively on the weakness ofTuchman's interpretation of events.

• D.The author of Text 1 claims that Tuchman would agree that World War I was largely due to events in Eastern Europe,while the author of Text 2 maintains that Tuchman would say that Eastern European leaders were not committed to military plans in the same way that other leaders were.

Text 1

The fossil record suggests that mammoths went extinct around 11 thousand years(kyr)ago.In a 2021 study of environmental DNA(eDNA)—genetic material shed into the environment by organisms—in the Arctic,Yucheng Wang and colleagues found mammoth eDNA in sedimentary

 

 

 

layers formed millennia later,around 4 kyr ago.To account for this discrepancy,Joshua H.Miller and Carl Simpson proposed that arctic temperatures could preserve a mammoth carcass on the surface,allowing it to leach DNA into the environment,for several thousand years.

 

Text 2

Wang and colleagues concede that eDNA contains DNA from both living organisms and carcasses, but for DNA to leach from remains over several millennia requires that the remains be perpetually  on the surface.Scavengers and weathering in the Arctic,however,are likely to break down surface  remains well before a thousand years have passed.

 

Which choice best describes how Text 1 and Text 2 relate to each other?

• A.Text  1 presents findings by Wang and colleagues and gives another research team's attempt to explain those findings,whereas Text 2 provides additional detail that calls that explanation into question.

• B.Text  1  describes  Wang  and  colleagues'study  and  a  critique  of  their  methodology,whereas Text 2 offers additional details showing that methodology to be sound.

• C.Text 1 argues that new research has undermined the standard view of when mammoths went

  extinct,whereas Text 2 suggests a way to reconcile the standard view with that new research.

• D.Text  1  discusses  two  approaches  to  studying  mammoth  extinction  without  advocating  for either,whereas Text 2 advocates for one approach over the other.

Text 1

Philosopher G.E.Moore's most influential work entails the concept of common sense.He asserts  that there are certain beliefs that all people,including philosophers,know instinctively to be true, whether or not they profess otherwise:among them,that they have bodies,or that they exist in a world with other objects that have three dimensions.Moore's careful work on common sense may seem obvious but was in fact groundbreaking.

 

Text 2

External world  skepticism  is  a  philosophical  stance  supposing  that  we  cannot  be  sure  of the existence of anything outside our own minds.During a lecture,G.E.Moore once offered a proof refuting this stance by holding out his hands and saying,"Here is one hand,and here is another." Many philosophers reflexively reject this proof (Annalisa Coliva called it “an obviously annoying failure”)but have found it a challenge to articulate exactly why the proof fails.

 

Based on the texts,how would the author of Text  1  most likely respond to proponents of the philosophical stance outlined in Text 2?

• A. By pointing out that Moore would assert that external world skepticism is at odds with other beliefs those proponents must unavoidably hold

  
  

• B. By arguing that if it is valid to assert that some facts are true based on instinct,it is also valid to assert that some proofs are inadequate based on instinct

• C. By agreeing with those proponents that Moore's treatment of positions that contradict his own is fundamentally unserious

• D. By suggesting that an instinctive distaste for Moore's position is preventing external world skeptics from constructing a sufficiently rigorous refutation of Moore

Text 1

The idea that time moves in only one direction is instinctively understood,yet it puzzles physicists. According to the second law of thermodynamics,at a macroscopic level some processes of heat  transfer are irreversible due to the production of entropy—after a transfer we cannot rewind time  and place molecules back exactly where they were before,just as we cannot unbreak dropped eggs. But laws of physics at a microscopic or quantum level hold that those processes should be  reversible.

 

Text 2

In 2015,physicists Tiago Batalhão et al.performed an experiment in which they confirmed the irreversibility of thermodynamic processes at a quantum level,producing entropy by applying a rapidly oscillating magnetic field to a system of carbon-13 atoms in liquid chloroform.But the experiment"does not pinpoint ..what causes [irreversibility]at the microscopic level,"coauthor Mauro Paternostro said.

 

Based on the texts,what would the author of Text  1 most likely say about the experiment described in Text 2?

• A. It is consistent with the current understanding of physics at a microscopic level but not at a macroscopic level.

• B. It provides empirical evidence that the current understanding of an aspect of physics at a microscopic level must be incomplete.

• C. It supports a claim about an isolated system of atoms in a laboratory,but that claim should not be extrapolated to a general claim about the universe.

• D. It would suggest an interesting direction for future research were it not the case that two of

  the physicists who conducted the experiment disagree on the significance of its findings.

Text 1

Soy sauce,made from fermented soybeans,is noted for its umami flavor.Umami—one of the five basic tastes  along with  sweet,bitter,salty,and  sour—was  formally  classified  when  its  taste

receptors were discovered in the 2000s.In 2007,to define the pure umami flavor scientists Rie Ishii and Michael O'Mahony used broths made from shiitake mushrooms and kombu seaweed, and two panels of Japanese and US judges closely agreed on a description of the taste.

 

Text 2

A 2022 experiment by Manon Jünger et al.led to a greater understanding of soy sauce's flavor profile.The team initially presented a mixture of compounds with low molecular weights to taste testers who found it was not as salty or bitter as real soy sauce.Further analysis of soy sauce identified  proteins,including  dipeptides,that   enhanced  umami   flavor  and   also  contributed  to saltiness.The team then made a mix of 50 chemical compounds that re-created soy sauce's flavor.

 

Based    on     the    texts,     if    Ishii     and     O'Mahony(Text     1)    and     Jünger     et    al.(Text     2)    were     aware     of    the findings of both experiments,they would most likely agree with which statement?

• A.The  broths  in  the  2007  experiment  most  likely  did  not  have  a  substantial  amount  of  the dipeptides that played a key part in the 2022 experiment.

• B.On  average,the  diets  of people  in  the  United  States  tend  to have  fewer  foods  that  contain certain dipeptides than the diets of people in Japan have.

• C.Chemical compounds that activate both the umami and salty taste receptors tend to have a higher molecular weight than those that only activate umami taste receptors.

• D.Fermentation introduces proteins responsible for the increase of umami flavor in soy sauce, and those proteins also increase the perception of saltiness.

Text 1

Growth  in the use  of novel nanohybrids—materials  created  from  the  conjugation  of multiple distinct nanomaterials,such as iron oxide and gold nanomaterials conjugated for use in magnetic  imaging—has     outpaced     studies     of     nanohybrids'environmental     risks.Unfortunately,risk evaluations based on nanohybrids'constituents are not reliable: conjugation may alter constituents' physiochemical properties such that innocuous nanomaterials form a nanohybrid that is anything but.

 

Text 2

The  potential   for  enhanced  toxicity  of  nanohybrids  relative  to  the  toxicity  of  constituent nanomaterials has drawn deserved attention,but the effects of nanomaterial conjugation vary by case.For  instance,it  was  recently  shown  that  a  nanohybrid  of  silicon  dioxide  and  zinc  oxide preserved  the  desired  optical  transparency  of  zinc  oxide  nanoparticles  while  mitigating  the nanoparticles'potential to damage DNA.

 

Based on the texts,how would the author of Text 2 most likely respond to the assertion in the underlined portion of Text 1?

• A. By  denying that the circumstance described in Text 1 is likely to occur but acknowledging that many aspects of nanomaterial conjugation are still poorly understood

• B. By agreeing that the possibility described in Text 1 is a cause for concern but pointing out that nanomaterial conjugation does not inevitably produce that result

• C. By concurring that the risk described in Text 1 should be evaluated but emphasizing that the risk is more than offset by the potential benefits of nanomaterial conjugation

• D. By arguing that the situation described in Text 1 may not be representative but conceding that the effects of nanomaterial conjugation are harder to predict than researchers had expected.

Text 1

Like the work of Ralph Ellison before her,Toni Morrison's novels feature scenes in which characters deliver sermons of such length and verbal dexterity that for a time,the text exchanges the formal parameters of fiction for those of oral literature.Given the many other echoes of Ellison in Morrison's novels,both in structure and prose style, these scenes suggest Ellison's direct influence on Morrison.

 

Text 2

In their destabilizing effect on literary form,the sermons in Morrison's works recall those in Ellison's.Yet literature by Black Americans abounds in moments where interpolated speech erodes the division between oral and written forms that literature in English has traditionally observed.Morrison's use of the sermon is attributable not only to the influence of Ellison but also to a community-wide strategy of resistance to externally imposed literary conventions.

 

Based on the texts,how would the author of Text 2 most likely characterize the underlined claim in Text 1?

• A.As  failing to consider Ellison's and Morrison's equivalent uses of the  sermon within the wider cultural context in which they wrote

• B. As being indebted to the tradition of resisting literary conventions that privilege written forms,such as novels,over sermons and other oral forms

• C. As disregarding points of structural and stylistic divergence between the works of Ellison and those of Morrison

• A. As misunderstanding the function of sermons in novels by Black American writers other than Ellison and Morrisonmisunderstanding the fun

Text 1

In 1916,H.Dugdale Sykes disputed claims that The Two Noble Kinsmen was coauthored by

 

 

 

William  Shakespeare  and  John  Fletcher.Sykes  felt  Fletcher's  contributions  to  the  play  were obvious—Fletcher had a distinct style in his other plays,so much so that lines with that style were considered  sufficient  evidence  of Fletcher's  authorship.But  for the  lines not  deemed to be by Fletcher,Sykes felt that their depiction of women indicated that their author was not Shakespeare but Philip Massinger.

 

Text 2

Scholars have accepted The Two Noble Kinsmen as coauthored by Shakespeare since the 1970s:it appears  in  all  major  one-volume  editions  of  Shakespeare's  complete  works.Though  scholars disagree about who wrote what exactly,it is generally held that on the basis of style,Shakespeare wrote all of the first act and most of the last,while John Fletcher authored most of the three

middle acts.

Based on the texts,both Sykes in Text 1 and the scholars in Text 2 would most likely agree with which statement?

• A.The  Two  Noble  Kinsmen  belongs  in  one-volume  compilations  of Shakespeare's  complete plays.

• B.John  Fletcher's  writing has  a  unique,readily  identifiable  style.

• C.Philip Massinger's style in the first and last acts of The Two Noble Kinsmen is an homage to Shakespeare's  style.

• D.The women characters in John Fletcher's plays are similar to the women characters in Philip Massinger's  plays.

Text 1

The ancient Greek poet Homer is widely considered the author of two epic poems,the Iliad and the Odyssey,which recount the events of the Trojan War and its aftermath. However,some  scholars have argued that Homer was not a single individual,but a collective name for a tradition of oral poets who composed and performed the epics over several centuries. These scholars cite the lack of reliable historical information about the life and identity of Homer,as well as the apparent contradictions in the plot and style of the epics.According to this theory,the Iliad and the Odyssey are the products of a fluid and evolving oral culture,not of a fixed and coherent literary vision.

 

Text 2

A recent study by a team of researchers used statistical methods to analyze the linguistic patterns and vocabulary of the Iliad and the Odyssey,comparing them with other ancient Greek texts.The study found that the two epics are remarkably consistent in their use of language,and that they are significantly different from other texts attributed to the same period.The study concluded that the Iliad and the Odyssey are most likely the work of a single author,or at least of a very close group of collaborators.

 

Based on the texts,how would the author of Text 2 most likely respond to the assertion in the underlined portion of Text 1?

• A. By noting that the argument does not account for the influence of later editors on modern versions of the epics

• B. By challenging the argument with the findings from the linguistic analysis of the epics, which support the theory of a single author or a close group of collaborators

• C. By  critiquing  the   argument  for  overlooking  the  historical   evidence  that  Homer  was recognized and celebrated as a real poet.

• D. By  confirming that the differences between the epics and other texts attributed to the same period support the theory that the epics reflect an evolving oral tradition.

Text 1

Fossils of the hominin Australopithecus africanus have been found in the Sterkfontein Caves of South  Africa,but  assigning  an  age  to the fossils is challenging because of the unreliability of dating methods in this context. The geology of Sterkfontein has caused soil lavers from different periods to mix,impeding stratigraphic dating,and dates cannot be reliably imputed from those of nearby animal bones since the bones may have been relocated by flooding.

 

Text 2

Archaeologists used new  cosmogenic  nuclide  dating  techniques  to  reevaluate  the  ages  of A. africanus   fossils   found   in   the   Sterkfontein   Caves.This   technique   involves   analyzing   the cosmogenic nucleotides in the breccia—the matrix of rock fragments immediately surrounding the fossils.The researchers assert that this approach avoids the potential for misdating associated with assigning ages based on Sterkfontein's soil layers or animal bones.

 

Based on the texts,how would the researchers in Text 2 most likely respond to the underlined portion in Text 1?

• A.They would contend that if analyses of surrounding layers and bones in the Sterkfontein

  Caves were combined,then the dating of the fossils there would be more accurate.

• B.They would emphasize the fact that the A.africanus fossils found in the Sterkfontein Caves may have been corrupted in some way over the years.

• C.    They would argue that their techniques are better suited than other methods to the unique challenges posed by the Sterkfontein Caves.

• D.They  would  claim  that   cosmogenic  nuclide   dating  is  reliable   in  the   context  of  the Sterkfontein Caves because it is applied to the fossils directly.