The following text is adapted from Jane Austen's 1814 novel Mansfield Park. The speaker, Tom, is considering staging a play at home with a group of his friends and family.

We mean nothing but a little amusement among ourselves, just to vary the scene, and exercise our powers in something new. We want no audience, no publicity. We may be trusted, I think, in choosing some play most perfectly unexceptionable; and I can conceive no greater harm or danger to any of us in conversing in the elegant written language of some respectable author than in chattering in words of our own.

Which choice best states the main purpose of the text?

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 first visual confirmation of the Wigner crystal.

Which choice best states the main idea of the text?

The following text is adapted from Jane Austen's 1814 novel Mansfield Park. The speaker, Tom, is considering staging a play at home with a group of his friends and family.

We mean nothing but a little amusement among ourselves, just to vary the scene, and exercise our powers in something new. We want no audience, no publicity. We may be trusted, I think, in choosing some play most perfectly unexceptionable; and I can conceive no greater harm or danger to any of us in conversing in the elegant written language of some respectable author than in chattering in words of our own.

Which choice best states the main purpose of the text?

The following text is from Charlotte Bront?'s 1847 novel Jane Eyre. Jane, the narrator, works as a governess at Thornfield Hall.

I went on with my day's business tranquilly; but ever and anon vague suggestions kept wandering across my brain of reasons why I should quit Thornfield; and I kept involuntarily framing advertisements and pondering conjectures about new situations: these thoughts I did not think to check; they might germinate and bear fruit if they could.

Which choice best states the main purpose of the text?

The following text is adapted from Herman Melville's 1857 novel The Confidence-Man. Humphry Davy was a prominent British chemist and inventor.

Years ago, a grave American savant, being in London, observed at an evening party there, a certain coxcombical fellow, as he thought, an absurd ribbon in his lapel, and full of smart [banter], whisking about to the admiration of as many as were disposed to admire. Great was the savant's disdain; but, chancing ere long to find himself in a corner with the jackanapes, got into conversation with him, when he was somewhat ill-prepared for the good sense of the jackanapes, but was altogether thrown aback, upon subsequently being [informed that he was] no less a personage than Sir Humphry Davy.

Which choice best states the main purpose of the text?

The following text is adapted from Louise Erdrich's 2020 novel The Night Watchman. Louis Pipestone is collecting signatures for a petition from fellow members of the Turtle Mountain Band of Chippewa on the tribe's reservation in North Dakota.

Louis Pipestone tended the petition like a garden. He kept it with him at all times. In town, his eyes sharpened when he noticed a tribal member who hadn't yet signed. Wherever they were—at the gas pump, mercantile [general store], at Henry's [Café], on the road, or outside the clinic and hospital—Louis cornered them. If they were waiting for a baby to be born, he'd have them sign. If they were laughing, if they were arguing. If they were taking a child home from school, they signed. @2020 by Louise Erdrich

Which choice best states the main purpose of the text?

Animals use many objects as tools to achieve goals more easily. Such goals include grooming, finding food, and protecting themselves. For a long time, people thought tool use was unique to primates. Elephants and other animals, though, have busted the myth that tool use requires hands. Inventively, elephants use branches to scratch themselves. Woodpecker finches also get creative. They use cactus spines to pry insects from hiding places.

Which choice best states the main purpose of the text?

Pteropods are small swimming snails with thin, delicate calcium carbonate shells. These animals are thought to be especially vulnerable to ocean acidification due to calcium carbonate's susceptibility to dissolution at lower pH values. Victoria L. Peck and colleagues recently found that the periostracum (a protective coating on pteropods' outer shells) prevents this dissolution when intact. Moreover, the team was surprised to discover that even when the periostracum is breached, pteropods can still mitigate damage by rebuilding the inner shell wall.

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Can field mustard plants grow on Mars? Can pea plants? You might think the answer to these questions is obviously no, but researchers in the Netherlands recently showed that the seeds of many common plant species can germinate in soil designed to simulate Martian conditions, as long as water is supplied. In fact, some species actually did better in Martian soil than in Earth soil: 30 percent of field mustard seeds sprouted when planted in simulated Martian soil, compared with 4 percent that did when planted in soil from their home planet.

Which choice best states the main purpose of the text?

Though John Crowley, author of Engine Summer, is perhaps not as well known as the most commercially successful American writers of the past fifty years, influential figures have championed his work, including the poet James Merrill and the literary critic Harold Bloom. In his afterword to Crowley's book Little, Big, Bloom praises the novel's adroit blend of what playwright Friedrich Schiller termed the naive and sentimental modes—while Schiller thought works could be classified as either naive (seeking to describe reality) or sentimental (seeking to develop ideas), Little, Big demonstrates that a work can be both.

Which choice best states the main purpose of the text?

"Tomato" is an example of a loanword—that is, a word that originated in one language and was later adopted by another. The word came to English indirectly from tomate, the Spanish word for the widely cultivated plant. Spanish had borrowed it from Nahuatl, an Indigenous language of Central Mexico, in which the word's original form is tomatl. "Maize" also has an Indigenous origin and entered English through Spanish. But in this case, the original source was Taino, a language of the Caribbean islands, in which the word for the corn plant is mahis.

Which choice best states the main idea of the text?

According to historical documents, Marietta Strozzi—a young woman who was prominent in fifteenth-century Florentine culture—inspired several artworks, including a portrait bust sculpted by Desiderio da Settignano. Multiple sculptures dating to the period have been alleged to be the reported bust, but none have been authenticated as Desiderio's depiction of Surozzi. Given the historical importance of both Strozzi and Desiderio's sculpture of her, positively identifying the bust would be a notable accomplishment for art historians.

Which choice best states the main idea of the text?

Businesses selling clothing and other fashion items face obstacles in trying to forecast how much product to order: tastes and styles change quickly, while manufacturing clothing takes a significant amount of time. Researchers Youran Fu and Marshall Fisher have found that combining sellers' own data with information gathered from social media can dramatically improve the accuracy of such forecasts—by 24 to 57 percent in the cases they directly studied. Better predictions mean demand is easier to meet without retailers becoming overstocked.

Which choice best states the main idea of the text?

Businesses selling clothing and other fashion items face obstacles in trying to forecast how much product to order: tastes and styles change quickly, while manufacturing clothing takes a significant amount of time. Researchers Youran Fu and Marshall Fisher have found that combining sellers' own data with information gathered from social media can dramatically improve the accuracy of such forecasts—by 24 to 57 percent in the cases they directly studied. Better predictions mean demand is easier to meet without retailers becoming overstocked.

Which choice best states the main idea of the text?

The following text is from George Eliot's 1857 short story "The Sad Fortunes of the Rev. Amos Barton." In the text, the narrator addresses the reader directly and alludes to a discussion among Rev. Amos Barton's neighbors.

It was happy for the Rev. Amos Barton that he did not, like us, overhear the conversation recorded in the last chapter. Indeed, what mortal is there of us, who would find his satisfaction enhanced by an opportunity of comparing the picture he presents to himself of his own doings, with the picture they make on the mental retina of his neighbours? We are poor plants buoyed up by the air-vessels of our own conceit: alas for us, if we get a few pinches that empty us of that windy self-subsistence! The very capacity for good would go out of us.

Which choice best states the main idea of the text?

Can rye plants grow on Mars? Can pea plants? You might think the answer to these questions is obviously no, but researchers at Wageningen University recently showed that many common plant species can thrive in soil designed to simulate Martian conditions, as long as water is supplied. In fact, some species actually did better in Martian soil than in Earth soil: 83 percent of rye plants grown in simulated Martian soil developed leaves, compared with 71 percent that did when planted in soil from their home planet.

Which choice best states the main purpose of the text?

The following text is adapted from Daniel Defoe's 1704 nonfiction book The Storm.

The sermon is a sound of words spoken to the ear, and prepared only for present meditation, and extends no farther than the strength of memory can convey it; a book printed is a record; remaining in every man's possession, always ready to renew its acquaintance with his memory, and always ready to be produced as an authority or voucher to any reports he makes out of it, and conveys its contents for ages to come, to the eternity of mortal time, when the author is forgotten in his grave.

Which choice best states the main purpose of the text?

Known for the albums E.S.P. and 'Round About Midnight, jazz trumpeter Miles Davis collaborated several times with pianist Gil Evans. Their 1958 adaptation of George Gershwin's opera Porgy and Bess bears little resemblance to the 1935 original. Davis and Evans felt no desire to please listeners expecting an exact duplication of the opera. They omitted parts, such as the aria "I Got Plenty of Nuthin'," and sometimes made only brief gestures toward Gershwin?s melodies. But Davis and Evans?s willingness to recompose Gershwin?s work led to one of the most enduring albums in Davis?s catalog.

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The following text is adapted from George Eliot's 1857 short story "The Sad Fortunes of the Rev. Amos Barton." The Countess Czerlaski is a newcomer to the town of Milby.

I am by no means sure that if the good people of Milby had known the truth about the Countess Czerlaski, they would not have been considerably disappointed to find that it was very far from being as bad as they imagined. Nice distinctions are troublesome. It is so much easier to make up your mind that your neighbour is good for nothing, than to enter into all the circumstances that would oblige you to modify that opinion.

Which choice best states the main purpose of the text?

The following text is from Charlotte Bront?'s 1847 novel Jane Eyre. Jane works as a governess at Thornfield Hall.

I went on with my day's business tranquilly; but ever and anon vague suggestions kept wandering across my brain of reasons why I should quit Thornfield; and I kept involuntarily framing advertisements and pondering conjectures about new situations: these thoughts I did not think to check; they might germinate and bear fruit if they could.

Which choice best states the main purpose of the text?

The following text is adapted from Frances Hodgson Burnett's 1911 novel The Secret Garden. Mary, a young girl, recently found an overgrown hidden garden.

Mary was an odd, determined little person, and now she had something interesting to be determined about, she was very much absorbed, indeed. She worked and dug and pulled up weeds steadily, only becoming more pleased with her work every hour instead of tiring of it. It seemed to her like a fascinating sort of play.

Which choice best states the main idea of the text?

In West Africa, jalis have traditionally been keepers of information about family histories and records of important events. They have often served as teachers and advisers, too. New technologies may have changed some aspects of the role today, but jalis continue to be valued for knowing and protecting their peoples' stories.

Which choice best states the main idea of the text?

The following text is adapted from Susan Glaspell's 1912 short story "'Out There.'" An elderly shop owner is looking at a picture that he recently acquired and hopes to sell.

It did seem that the picture failed to fit in with the rest of the shop. A persuasive young fellow who claimed he was closing out his stock let the old man have it for what he called a song. It was only a little out-of-the- way store which subsisted chiefly on the framing of pictures. The old man looked around at his views of the city, his pictures of cats and dogs, his flaming bits of landscape. "Don't belong in here," he fumed. And yet the old man was secretly proud of his acquisition. There was a hidden dignity in his scowling as he shuffled about pondering the least ridiculous place for the picture.

Which choice best states the main purpose of the text?

I had grown up in the United States virtually without relatives, which, in my intense desire to assimilate, was quite all right with me. But this attitude dissolved when I walked into that apartment in Beijing. I realized then that my extended family is not just a collection of accidental alliances but a living body, an entity that will welcome me for being simply who I am: the daughter of my mother, the niece of my aunts and uncles. We had never before seen each other but, in that moment, we shared a sense of connection and loyalty unlike anything I had previously experienced.

The primary purpose of the passage is to

For people with synesthesia, a condition in which the senses get mixed up, the number five may be red. One explanation for this sensory crossover is that synesthetes, people with synesthesia, are simply experiencing childhood memories and associations. Maybe the person played with refrigerator magnets as a child and the number five was red. Another explanation is that synesthetes are experiencing the result of some kind of cross wiring between regions of the brain. In fact, we have now identified where in the brain such cross wiring might occur. We have also determined that synesthesia can occur if the wiring is fine but the balance of chemicals that control brain activity is skewed.

The primary purpose of the passage is to

My first day observing a community of forest chimpanzees showed me a richer and more satisfying world than I had imagined. I suddenly recognized why I, a non-scientist, or anyone should care about what happens to them: not, ultimately, because they use tools and solve problems and are intellectual beings, but because they are emotional beings, as we are, and because their emotions are so obviously similar to ours.

I was moved by the play, the adult male chasing a toddler round and round a tree, the mother nibbling her baby's toes and looking blissful, the three females playing with and adoring a single infant They feel! That was my discovery.

The primary purpose of the passage is to.

The Second World War was a watershed event for all Americans. It brought the Great Depression to an end and marked the beginning of significant socioeconomic and political changes for women and racial minorities. Chinese American women played an important role in these long-term changes.

Galvanized by motives ranging from Chinese nationalism to American patriotism and feminism, Chinese American women initiated an outpouring of highly organized activities in such areas as fund-raising, propaganda, civil defense, and Red Cross work. While some women in San Francisco's Chinatown enlisted in the armed services, many others went to work in businesses outside their neighborhood and in defense industries for the first time.

The primary purpose of the passage is to

Many people who hate spam assume that it is protected as free speech. Not necessarily so. The United States Supreme Court has previously ruled that individuals may preserve a threshold of privacy. "Nothing in the Constitution compels us to listen to or view any unwanted communication, whatever its merit," wrote Chief Justice Warren Burger in a 1970 decision. "We therefore categorically reject the argument that a vendor has a right to send unwanted material into the home of another." With regard to a seemingly similar problem, the Telephone Consumer Protection Act of 1991 made it illegal in the United States to send unsolicited faxes; why not extend the act to include unsolicited bulk e-mail?

Which choice best states the primary purpose of the text?

The initial exhibition of quilts by the women of Gee's Bend exploded into the world of modern art with great fanfare, rocking critics who generally dismiss cloth art. The quilts are made by descendants of slaves, who live in the small rural community in Alabama called Gee's Bend, once the site of cotton plantations. These women spend their spare time splicing scraps of old cloth to make robust objects of refined, abstract designs. The best of them, unusually minimalist and spare, are so gorgeous that it is hard to know how to begin to account for them. But then good art can never be fully accounted for, just described.

The primary purpose of the passage is to

Around 320 B.C. the ancient Greek geographer Pytheas made a remarkable sea journey around the distant Atlantic fringe of northern Europe. Afterward, some of his contemporaries regarded him as a brilliant scientist; others, as an outright liar.  Scholars who have more recently examined the evidence compare him to explorers like Captain Cook and Columbus. Few now doubt the truth of his claims to have journeyed to the very limits of the ancient European world, but how he traveled, where exactly he went, and what he saw are issues still as shrouded in mystery as the frightening North Atlantic shore was in the minds of his fellow Greeks.

The primary purpose of the passage is to

African American publishing entrepreneur John H. Johnson had a significant impact on American business practices. By successfully disproving a common assumption about marketing and media in the early twentieth century, Johnson helped make possible everything from Telemundo to Ms. magazine. The very nature of contemporary media hinges on the concept demonstrated by Johnson. Johnson devised techniques and concepts whose effectiveness now benefits many American businesses and even multinational corporations.

The passage as a whole primarily serves to

Stylistic evidence and laboratory evidence force fully support the claim that the grand painting Garden of Eden is a work of the Flemish master van Eyck. However, the painting must have been the work of someone else, as anyone with a little historical and zoological knowledge can tell just by looking at the painting. The animals in the painting are all vivid representations of actual animals, including armadillos. Even armadillos are native only to the Americas, and van Eyck died decades before Europeans reached the Americas.

Which choice best describes the overall structure  of the text?

In 2007, computer scientist Luis von Ahn was working on converting printed books into a digital format He found that some words were distorted enough that digital scanners couldn't recognize them, but most humans could easily read them. Based on that finding, von Ahn invented a simple security test to keep automated "bots" out of websites. The first version of the reCAPTCHA test asked users to type one known word and one of the many words scanners couldn't recognize. Correct answers proved the users were humans and added data to the book-digitizing project.

Which choice best states the main purpose of the text?

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 following text is from Jerome K. Jerome's 1889 novel Three Men in a Boat (To Say Nothing of the Dog). The narrator and two friends are taking a boat down the River Thames in England.

In a boat, I have always noticed that it is the fixed idea of each member of the crew that he is doing everything. Harris's notion was, that it was he alone who had been working, and that both George and I had been imposing upon him. George, on the other hand, ridiculed the idea of Harris's having done anything more than eat and sleep, and had a cast-iron opinion that it was he—George himself—who had done all the labour worth speaking of.

Which choice best describes the main purpose of the text?

The following text is adapted from Adib Khorram's 2018 novel Darius the Great Is Not Okay. The narrator, Darius, is a teenager visiting family in Iran. He and his friend Sohrab are at the entrance of the ruins of the ancient city of Persepolis.

"The Gate of All Nations," Sohrab said. He gestured to the lamassus [sculptures] and pillars surrounding us. "That's the name in English."

It wasn't much of a gate anymore, since anyone of any nation could have easily stepped around it instead of walking through. But it was still amazing.

Behind the lamassu, more columns sprouted from the ground like ancient trees in a petrified forest, forty feet tall, spindly but still miraculously upright. Giant stone slabs formed the remains of what must once have been a breathtaking structure.

?2018 by Adib khorram

Which choice best states the main idea of the text?

The following text is from Nathaniel Hawthorne's 1830 short story "Sir William Phips."

The knowledge, communicated by the historian and biographer, is analogous to that which we acquire of a country by the map,—minute, perhaps, and accurate, and available for all necessary purposes, but cold and naked, and wholly destitute of the mimic charm produced by landscape painting. These defects are partly remediable, and even without an absolute violation of literal truth, although by methods rightfully interdicted to professors of biographical exactness.

Which choice best states the main idea of the text?

In West Africa, jalis have traditionally been keepers of information about family histories and records of important events. They have often served as teachers and advisers, too. New technologies may have changed some aspects of the role today, but jalis continue to be valued for knowing and protecting their peoples' stories.

Which choice best states the main idea of the text?

The following text is adapted from Susan Glaspell's 1912 short story "'Out There.'" An elderly shop owner is looking at a picture that he recently acquired and hopes to sell.

It did seem that the picture failed to fit in with the rest of the shop. A persuasive young fellow who claimed he was closing out his stock let the old man have it for what he called a song. It was only a little out-of-the- way store which subsisted chiefly on the framing of pictures. The old man looked around at his views of the city, his pictures of cats and dogs, his flaming bits of landscape. "Don't belong in here," he fumed. And yet the old man was secretly proud of his acquisition. There was a hidden dignity in his scowling as he shuffled about pondering the least ridiculous place for the picture.

Which choice best states the main purpose of the text?

I had grown up in the United States virtually without relatives, which, in my intense desire to assimilate, was quite all right with me. But this attitude dissolved when I walked into that apartment in Beijing. I realized then that my extended family is not just a collection of accidental alliances but a living body, an entity that will welcome me for being simply who I am: the daughter of my mother, the niece of my aunts and uncles. We had never before seen each other but, in that moment, we shared a sense of connection and loyalty unlike anything I had previously experienced.

The primary purpose of the passage is to

My first day observing a community of forest chimpanzees showed me a richer and more satisfying world than I had imagined. I suddenly recognized why I, a non-scientist, or anyone should care about what happens to them: not, ultimately, because they use tools and solve problems and are intellectual beings, but because they are emotional beings, as we are, and because their emotions are so obviously similar to ours.

I was moved by the play, the adult male chasing a toddler round and round a tree, the mother nibbling her baby's toes and looking blissful, the three females playing with and adoring a single infant They feel! That was my discovery.

The primary purpose of the passage is to

The Second World War was a watershed event for all Americans. It brought the Great Depression to an end and marked the beginning of significant socioeconomic and political changes for women and racial minorities. Chinese American women played an important role in these long-term changes.

Galvanized by motives ranging from Chinese nationalism to American patriotism and feminism, Chinese American women initiated an outpouring of highly organized activities in such areas as fund-raising, propaganda, civil defense, and Red Cross work. While some women in San Francisco's Chinatown enlisted in the armed services, many others went to work in businesses outside their neighborhood and in defense industries for the first time.

The primary purpose of the passage is to

As a slang word "cool" has stayed cool far longer than most such words. One of the main characteristics of slang is the continual renewal of its vocabulary: in order for slang to feel slangy, it has to have a feeling of novelty. Slang expressions meaning the same thing as "cool," like "groovy," "hep," "far-out," "rad," and "tubular," have for the most part not had the staying power of "cool." In general, there is no intrinsic reason why one word stays alive and others get consigned to the scrap heap of linguistic history, but slang terms, like fashion designs, are rarely "in" for long. The jury is still out on how long "def" and "phat" will survive.

The primary purpose of the passage is to

Many people who hate spam assume that it is protected as free speech. Not necessarily so. The United States Supreme Court has previously ruled that individuals may preserve a threshold of privacy. "Nothing in the Constitution compels us to listen to or view any unwanted communication, whatever its merit," wrote Chief Justice Warren Burger in a 1970 decision. "We therefore categorically reject the argument that a vendor has a right to send unwanted material into the home of another." With regard to a seemingly similar problem, the Telephone Consumer Protection Act of 1991 made it illegal in the United States to send unsolicited faxes; why not extend the act to include unsolicited bulk e-mail?

Which choice best states the primary purpose of the text?

I know what your e-mail in-box looks like, and it isn't pretty: a babble of come-ons and lies from hucksters and con artists. To find your real e-mail, you must wade through the torrent of fraud and obscenity known politely as "unsolicited bulk e-mail" and colloquially as "spam." In a perverse tribute to the power of the online revolution, we are all suddenly getting the same mail: easy weight loss, get-rich-quick schemes, etc. The crush of these messages is now numbered in billions per day.

Which choice best states the primary purpose of the text?

The initial exhibition of quilts by the women of Gee's Bend exploded into the world of modern art with great fanfare, rocking critics who generally dismiss cloth art. The quilts are made by descendants of slaves, who live in the small rural community in Alabama called Gee's Bend, once the site of cotton plantations. These women spend their spare time splicing scraps of old cloth to make robust objects of refined, abstract designs. The best of them, unusually minimalist and spare, are so gorgeous that it is hard to know how to begin to account for them. But then good art can never be fully accounted for, just described.

The primary purpose of the passage is to

Around 320 B.C. the ancient Greek geographer Pytheas made a remarkable sea journey around the distant Atlantic fringe of northern Europe. Afterward, some of his contemporaries regarded him as a brilliant scientist; others, as an outright liar.  Scholars who have more recently examined the evidence compare him to explorers like Captain Cook and Columbus. Few now doubt the truth of his claims to have journeyed to the very limits of the ancient European world, but how he traveled, where exactly he went, and what he saw are issues still as shrouded in mystery as the frightening North Atlantic shore was in the minds of his fellow Greeks.

The primary purpose of the passage is to

African American publishing entrepreneur John H. Johnson had a significant impact on American business practices. By successfully disproving a common assumption about marketing and media in the early twentieth century, Johnson helped make possible everything from Telemundo to Ms. magazine. The very nature of contemporary media hinges on the concept demonstrated by Johnson. Johnson devised techniques and concepts whose effectiveness now benefits many American businesses and even multinational corporations.

The passage as a whole primarily serves to

Stylistic evidence and laboratory evidence force fully support the claim that the grand painting Garden of Eden is a work of the Flemish master van Eyck. However, the painting must have been the work of someone else, as anyone with a little historical and zoological knowledge can tell just by looking at the painting. The animals in the painting are all vivid representations of actual animals, including armadillos. Even armadillos are native only to the Americas, and van Eyck died decades before Europeans reached the Americas.

Which choice best describes the overall structure  of the text?

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?

In 2013 0ona M. Lonnstedt and colleagues published a study concluding that ocean acidification has a strong effect on the behavior of Pomacentrus amboinensis, a species of fish. However, Lonnstedt and colleagues' study relied on a mean sample size of only about 28 fish. In a 2022 review of various scientists' conclusions about the impacts of ocean acidification on fish behavior, Jeff C. Clements and colleagues caution that relying on such a relatively small sample size can increase the potential for biased analysis. Such analysis, in turn, can contribute to reports of exaggerated effects.

Which choice best states the main topic of the text?

Why do bobcats purr but jaguars roar? Researchers hypothesize that this difference between the two feline species may be partly due to a U-shaped bone in their throats called the hyoid. Bobcats, which are much smaller than jaguars, have a rigid hyoid that rumbles when the cat's larynx vibrates, resulting in a purr. By contrast, jaguars have a somewhat flexible hyoid, and the bone is attached to the skull with a stretchy ligament that bobcats lack. These traits allow jaguars and most other species of big cats to produce powerful roars. The same traits may also prevent most big cats from purring.

Which choice best states the main idea of the text?

The following text is from Jerome K. Jerome's 1889 novel Three Men in a Boat (To Say Nothing of the Dog). The narrator and two friends are taking a boat down the River Thames in England.

In a boat, I have always noticed that it is the fixed idea of each member of the crew that he is doing everything. Harris's notion was, that it was he alone who had been working, and that both George and I had been imposing upon him. George, on the other hand, ridiculed the idea of Harris's having done anything more than eat and sleep, and had a cast-iron opinion that it was he—George himself—who had done all the labour worth speaking of.

Which choice best describes the main purpose of the text?

Humans aren't the only ones who use tools. Other animals also find tools helpful. Octopuses use two halves of a seashell to provide protection or a place to hide. And despite sometimes being thought of as simple, many birds make clever use of tools as well. Woodpecker finches have been observed using cactus spines to pry insects from hiding places. Which choice best states the main topic of the text?s

Can field mustard plants grow on Mars? Can pea plants? You might think the answer to these questions is obviously no, but researchers in the Netherlands recently showed that the seeds of many common plant species can germinate in soil designed to simulate Martian conditions, as long as water is supplied. In fact, some species actually did better in Martian soil than in Earth soil: 30 percent of field mustard seeds sprouted when planted in simulated Martian soil, compared with 4 percent that did when planted in soil from their home planet.

According to the text, what percentage of field mustard seeds planted in Martian soil sprouted?

he following text is adapted from Matthew Arnold's 1869 nonfiction book Culture and Anarchy.

The men of culture are the true apostles of equality. The great men of culture are those who have had a passion for diffusing, for making prevail, for carrying from one end of society to the other, the best knowledge, the best ideas of their time; who have labored to divest knowledge of all that was harsh, uncouth, difficult, abstract, professional. exclusive; to humanise it, to make it efficient outside the clique of the cultivated and learned, yet still remaining the best knowledge and thought of the time, and a true source, therefore, of sweetness and light.

Which choice best states the main idea of the text?

Eighteenth-century economist Adam Smith is famed for his metaphor of the invisible hand, which he putatively used to illustrate a robust model of how individuals produce aggregate benefits by pursuing their own economic interests. Note "putatively": as Gavin Kennedy has shown, Smith deploys this metaphor only once in his economic writings—to make a narrow point about the then-dominant economic theory of mercantilism—and it was largely ignored until some twentieth-century economists eager to secure an intellectual pedigree for their views elevated it to a fully-fledged paradigm.

Which choice best states the main idea of the text?

Arthropods—calico crabs, ground beetles, and many other invertebrate animals—have a nervous system made up of a brain, nerve cord, and other nerves. Researchers have gained insights about this system in ancient arthropods from traces found in various fossils. For example, in a study of two fossils of the extinct arthropod species Mollisonia symmetrica, Javier Ortega-Hernández, Sarah Losso, and team observed clear signs of a nerve cord. They also saw possible indications of a synganglion, a brain-like mass of nerves. Researchers hope to identify more features of the nervous systems of prehistoric arthropods as additional fossils are found.

Which choice best states the main idea of the text?

Mexican textile artist Victoria Villasana weaves stories of triumph, using her unique method of applying colorful yarn to photographs of people. In some works, Villasana focuses on celebrating cultural icons who are people of color, as she does in her depiction of artist Frida Kahlo. However, in other works, Villasana honors ordinary people, as she does in her captivating portrayal of a young girl sitting on a sidewalk, Villasana sees both of these approaches as ways of depicting the power and interconnectedness of all people.

Which choice best states the main idea of the text?

Optimal foraging theory (OFT) holds that animals' foraging behaviors reflect cost-benefit trade-offs that vary by species and with dynamic ecological circumstances. One such circumstance is lunar intensity, which Joel Brown and colleagues found to be negatively associated with foraging by Arizona pocket mice but Deborah J. Curtis and colleagues found to be positively associated with foraging by mongoose lemurs. This discrepancy is explicable in terms of OFT: the lemurs' greater reliance on vision means that higher lunar intensity benefits them more than it benefits the mice.

Which choice best describes the finding made by Curtis and colleagues, as presented in the text?

The following text is from Sarah Orne Jewett's 1899 short story "Martha's Lady." Martha is employed by Miss Pyne as a maid.

Miss Pyne sat by the window watching, in her best dress, looking stately and calm; she seldom went out now, and it was almost time for the carriage. Martha was just coming in from the garden with the strawberries, and with more flowers in her apron. It was a bright cool evening in June, the golden robins sang in the elms, and the sun was going down behind the apple-trees at the foot of the garden. The beautiful old house stood wide open to the long-expected guest.

Which choice best states the main purpose of the text?

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?

Culinary anthropologist Vertamae Smart- Grosvenor may be known for her decades of work in national public television and radio, but her book Vibration Cooking: or, the Travel Notes of a Geechee Girl is likely her most influential project. The 1970 book, whose title refers to Smart- Grosvenor，s roots in the Low Country of South Carolina, was unusual for its time. It combined memoir, recipes, travel writing, and social commentary and challenged notions about conventions of food and cooking. Long admired by many, the book and its author have shaped contemporary approaches to writing about cuisine.

Which choice best describes the main idea of the text?

The following text is adapted from Jack London's 1903 novel The Call of the Wild. Buck is a sled dog living with John Thornton in Yukon, Canada.

Thornton alone held [Buck]. The rest of mankind was as nothing. Chance travellers might praise or pet him; but he was cold under it all, and from a too demonstrative man he would get up and walk away. When Thornton's partners, Hans and Pete, arrived on the long-expected raft, Buck refused to notice them till he learned they were close to Thornton; after that he tolerated them in a passive sort of way, accepting favors from them as though he favored them by accepting.

Which choice best states the main idea of the text?

This all started on a Saturday morning in May, one of those warm spring days that smell like clean linen. Delia had gone to the supermarket to shop for the week's meals. She was standing in the produce section, languidly choosing a bunch of celery. Grocery stores always made her reflective.

The reference to "clean linen" primarily serves to

This all started on a Saturday morning in May, one of those warm spring days that smell like clean linen. Delia had gone to the supermarket to shop for the week's meals. She was standing in the produce section, languidly choosing a bunch of celery. Grocery stores always made her reflective.

The reference to "clean linen" primarily serves to

A century ago, opponents of women's suffrage in the United States scoffed at the notion that extending the vote to women would make any difference. "Women will vote with their husbands" was the commonly accepted wisdom. This was an argument made in the absence of evidence, as women did not yet have the vote. Ever since women won the vote, researchers have been keeping close track of female voting behavior. A "gender gap" in voting behavior has been found in the United States as in many other countries.

The primary purpose of the passage is to

The ability to see the situation as your opponents see it, as difficult as it may be, is one of the most important skills that you can possess as a negotiator. You must know more than simply that they see things differently. It is not enough to study them like beetles under a microscope; you need to know what it feels like to be a beetle. To accomplish this you should be prepared to withhold judgment as you "try on" their views. Your opponents may well believe that their views are right as strongly as you believe yours are.

The primary purpose of the passage is to

Beginning in the 1780's, novelist Charlotte Smith's explicit and implicit criticism of English life and laws, of England's social organization, earned her a reputation as a "subversive." Her novels contain some of the earliest literary attacks on the English legal system. In comparison to later exposés by nineteenth-century novelists such as Charles Dickens, Charlotte Smith's attacks appear some-what timorous. However, it cannot be denied that it was Smith who introduced such a target for later novelists.

The author of the passage mentions Charles Dickens primarily as an example of a novelist who