In ancient times the city of Rome was enclosed by a wall to keep its inhabitants safe from enemies. When the enemies were driven off, well-to-do Romans began to move beyond the wall and out of the noisy, bustling city. They built beautiful homes just outside the city walls. The air was fresher and there was less chance of catching one of the deadly diseases that killed off so many of the poor population living inside the city.

The main idea of this paragraph is...

Millions of American soldiers who were returning from World War II were eager to get back to their regular lives. They wanted to get married and raise families. At the time, there was a terrible shortage of apartments in most American cities. In addition, cheaper ways of building houses were developed. Millions of new houses were built in the suburbs. So as soon as they were built, the houses were bought by these men and their new families.

The main idea of this paragraph is....

Suburbia has changed completely over the last 60 years. It is no longer made up of a few lightly settled but very rich communities. Rather, it has become a string of bustling communities that enclose most of the country’s big cities, and often extend in an unending stretch from one city to another.

The main idea of this paragraph is....

Decades ago, a woman considering a career usually turned to nursing, teaching, or secretarial work. No one ever questioned women’s ability to be good in these positions. But bus drivers, mechanics, and engineers were jobs traditionally held by men. It was unheard of for a woman to consider jobs like these.

The main idea of this paragraph is...

Large numbers of people were rounded up and given tests to determine if they were witches. Their heads were shaved, and they were searched for “witches’ marks.” These were supposed to have been placed on their bodies by the devil. Unfortunately, a mole or birthmark often qualified as a witch’s mark.

What inference can you make from this paragraph?

During the 1960s, a Texas oil millionaire, A.H. Meadows, acquired a sizable collection of paintings by well-known 20th-century artists. His more than 40 works of art bore such signatures as Matisse, Chagall, and Picasso. It was an impressive collection. But most impressive of all, was the fact that every single painting turned out to be the work of Elmyr de Hory, a master art forger.

What inference can we make about the Meadows art collection?

At about the same time Meadows discovered his collection was not what it seemed, another collection of paintings came up for auction near Paris. These paintings had been supplied by the same two art dealers from whom Meadows had bought his collection.

What inference can we make about the Paris art collection?

It is important for us to understand Taiwan’s unusual situation with China. Although opposed to each other’s government, the leaders in Beijing (the People’s Republic of China) and Taipei (capital of the Republic of China) agree on one point: there are not “two Chinas,” there is only one government of China. The Chinese in mainland China believe that their government in Beijing is the legal government of China, while the Chinese in Taiwan believe that their government in Taipei is the legal government. Beijing’s control extends through the 22 provinces of mainland China. Taipei’s control covers only the province of Taiwan.

Which of the following must be inferred from what you read?

Just before the United States entered World War I, President Woodrow Wilson sent protest note after protest note to authorities in Germany calling for an end to the unprovoked sinkings by submarines, and threatening war if they did not stop. Time after time the Germans promised to restrict the activities of their submarines, but there was always some new horror to show that they had forgotten their pledge. At last, after the great liner Sussex was sunk with an appalling loss of life, the Germans pledged not to sink merchant vessels without warning and without ensuring the safety of the people on them. This was on the condition that such ships did not resist or try to escape. Like the others, this pledge was not kept for long.

Which of the following must be inferred from what you read?

Strictly speaking, military occupation of the South after the Civil War may have been unconstitutional. Congress assumed powers that before had belonged to the president.... As commander-in-chief, only the president had the authority to direct the military. Furthermore, the Supreme Court had ruled in 1866 that civilians could not be tried in military courts when civil courts were functioning, as they were in the South. When other decisions of the Supreme Court also seemed to say that the Reconstruction plans were illegal, Congress threatened to take away the Court’s powers.

Which of the following must be inferred from what you read?

She was dressed in rich materials - satins, and lace, and silks - all of white. Her shoes were white. And she had a long white veil dependent from her hair, and she had bridal flowers in her hair, but her hair was white. Some bright jewels sparkled on her neck and on her hands, and some other jewels lay sparkling on the table. Dresses, less splendid than the dress she wore, and half-packed trunks, were scattered about. She had not quite finished dressing, for she had but one shoe on - the other was on the table near her hand - her veil was but half arranged, her watch and chain were not put on, and some lace for her bosom lay with those trinkets, and with her handkerchief, and gloves, and some flowers, and a prayer-book, all confusedly heaped about the looking-glass. Charles Dickens, Great Expectations (Pip’s first description of Miss Havisham)

Which of the following CANNOT be inferred from the passage? (More than one answer may be appropriate.)

Pretty soon I wanted to smoke, and asked the widow to let me. But she wouldn’t. She said it was a mean practice and wasn’t clean, and I must try to not do it any more. That is just the way with some people. They get down on a thing when they don’t know nothing about it. Here she was a-bothering about Moses, which was no kin to her, and no use to anybody, being gone, you see, yet finding a power of fault with me for doing a thing that had some good in it. And she took snuff, too; of course that was all right, because she done it herself.

Mark Twain, The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn (Huck is the narrator)

Which two statements can be inferred from the above passage? (More than one answer may be appropriate.)

Well, three or four months run along, and it was well into the winter now. I had been to school most all the time and could spell and read and write just a little, and could say the multiplication table up to six times seven is thirty-five, and I don’t reckon I could ever get any further than that if I was to live forever. I don’t take no stock in mathematics, anyway.

Mark Twain, The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn (Huck is the narrator)

Which of the following can you infer from the passage?

And Jim said you mustn’t count the things you are going to cook for dinner, because that would bring bad luck. The same if you shook the table-cloth after sundown. And he said if a man owned a beehive and that man died, the bees must be told about it before sun-up next morning, or else the bees would all weaken down and quit work and die. Jim said bees wouldn’t sting idiots; but I didn’t believe that, because I had tried them lots of times myself, and they wouldn’t sting me. Mark Twain, The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn, (Huck is the narrator)

Which of the following statements CANNOT be inferred from the passage?

Shrimp boats sail out Key West every night and return the next morning, loaded with shrimp. Nearly 12 million pounds of the shellfish are caught and packed in Key West each year. Many of the island’s residents are employed by the shrimping industry.

The main idea of this paragraph is....

Although liquefied, synthetic, and imported versions of gas are all “top performers,” their allure is diminished by the expenses involved in producing and transporting them. The costs currently run from three to four times higher than for locally produced natural gas. Domestic natural gas, even if the price were doubled, would still be the consumer’s best energy buy, and, given the proper economic “climate,” there is plenty of it to be produced within the territorial boundaries of the United States. In fact, according to a U.S. Geological Survey estimate, billions of cubic feet of domestic gas remain to be discovered and produced. That is enough to supply the nation’s needs well into the future. The challenge arises in finding and producing these volumes at rates that will keep pace with growing requirements.

The main idea of this paragraph is that...

Scientists estimate that the results of their research into aging will be felt by a large segment of the population within the next 30 years. In coming years, a genuine increase in longevity should be apparent across the board. In the meantime, a healthier, longer-living population might well begin planning for the future. Second and third careers, structured re-education, productive leisure, and a kind of “new internationalism” are all in the future. Many of the people working or growing up today will be alive longer because of the dogged efforts of gerontologists around the world. The future is something for which we should prepare now. You can live to be 100.

The main idea of this paragraph is that we should plan for the future because..

On a fine day in April 1862, a passenger train drew out of Marietta, Georgia, bound north. Those were not days of abundant passenger travel in the South, except for those who wore the butternut uniform of the Confederacy and carried muskets, but this train was well filled, and at Marietta a score of men in civilian dress had boarded the cars. They were soldierly looking fellows — not the kind that were likely to avoid the Confederate draft for very long. Eight miles north of Marietta the train stopped at the station of Big Shanty for breakfast, and the hungry passengers quickly converged on the lunch counter, followed by the conductor, engineer, and brakemen. The train was empty within ten minutes. Yet breakfast did not seem to appeal to everyone on the train. The Marietta group of civilians left the train with the others, but instead of seeking the refreshment counter, turned their steps toward the locomotive. No one noticed them, though a sentinel walked his beat, rifle on shoulder, not a dozen steps from the engine. One of the men climbed into the engine. The sentinel paid no attention to him. Another slipped in between two cars, and detached them by disconnecting the coupling pin. The sentinel failed to observe him. A group of others climbed quickly into an open boxcar. The sentinel looked at them, and walked on serenely. The last man of the party now strode rapidly up the platform, nodded to the one in the locomotive, and swung himself lightly into the cab. The sentinel turned at the end of his beat and walked back, just beginning to wonder what all this meant. Suddenly the sharp report of a rifle rang through the air. The conductor hurried out to the platform. He had heard something besides the rifle shot — the grind of wheels on the track — and was astonished to see the train broken in two, and half of it running away. The passenger cars stood where he had left them. The locomotive and two boxcars had been detached from them and were flying up the track. The locomotive had been stolen!

The main idea of this selection is that

Not long ago in China, every man, woman, and child performed some sort of work for the people. An individual earned respect not for the fame and fortune he had won, not for position or material possessions, but rather for the degree in which he or she served the people. Heroes were those who built bridges and dams, helped to eradicate disease, and especially who were members of the People’s Liberation Army (PLA). This unique army, which had no bases in any foreign country, not only existed to defend the country from outsiders. PLA members lived among the people, and took part in all aspects of community life. The local committees that ran China’s factories, farm communes, schools, and hospitals, all had People’s Liberation Army members serving on them. 2. Although liquefied, synthetic, and imported versions of gas are all “top performers,” their allure is diminished by the expenses involved in producing and transporting them. The costs currently run from three to four times higher than for locally produced natural gas. Domestic natural gas, even if the price were doubled, would still be the consumer’s best energy buy, and, given the proper economic “climate,” there is plenty of it to be produced within the territorial boundaries of the United States. In fact, according to a U.S. Geological Survey estimate, billions of cubic feet of domestic gas remain to be discovered and produced. That is enough to supply the nation’s needs well into the future. The challenge arises in finding and producing these volumes at rates that will keep pace with growing requirements. 3. Scientists estimate that the results of their research into aging will be felt by a large segment of the population within the next 30 years. In coming years, a genuine increase in longevity should be apparent across the board. In the meantime, a healthier, longer-living population might well begin planning for the future. Second and third careers, structured re-education, productive leisure, and a kind of “new internationalism” are all in the future. Many of the people working or growing up today will be alive longer because of the dogged efforts of gerontologists around the world. The future is something for which we should prepare now. You can live to be 100.

The main idea of this paragraph is that...