THE --- SCIENCE OF SEISMOLOGY HAS GROWN JUST ENOUGH SOTHAT THE FIRS...
6. The --- science of seismology has grown just enough sothat the first overly bold theories have been ---.The purpose of the sentence completion questions is to measure the(A) magnetic . . acceptedability to use the various kinds of cues provided by syntax and(B) fledgling . . refutedgrammar to recognize the overall meaning of a sentence. In decid-(C) tentative . . analyzeding which of five words or sets of words can best be substituted for(D) predictive . . protectedblank spaces in a sentence, you must analyze the relationships(E) exploratory . . recalledamong the component parts of the incomplete sentence. You mustconsider each answer choice and decide which completes the sen-At first reading, there may appear to be more than one answertence in such a way that the sentence has a logically satisfyingchoice that “makes sense” when substituted in the blanks of themeaning and can be read as a stylistically integrated whole.sentence. (A), (C), and (D) can be dismissed fairly readily when it isSentence completion questions provide a context within which toseen that accepted, tentative, and protected are not compatible withanalyze the function of words as they relate to and combine withoverly bold in the sentence. Of the two remaining choices, (B) isone another to form a meaningful unit of discourse.superior on stylistic grounds: theories are not recalled (E), andSome approaches that may be helpful in answering sentencefledgling (B) reflects the idea of growth present in the sentence.completion questions: Read the entire incomplete sentence carefully before you con-READING COMPREHENSIONsider the answer choices. Be sure you understand the ideasThe purpose of the reading comprehension questions is to measureexpressed and examine the sentence for possible indications ofthe ability to read with understanding, insight, and discrimination.tone (irony, humor, and the like).This type of question explores your ability to analyze a written Before reading the answer choices, you may find it helpful to fillpassage from several perspectives, including the ability to recognizein the blanks with a word or words of your own that complete theboth explicitly stated elements in the passage and assumptionsmeaning of the sentence. Then examine the answer choices to seeunderlying statements or arguments in the passage as well as theif any of them parallels your own completion of the sentence.implications of those statements or arguments. Because the written Pay attention to grammatical clues in the sentence. For example,passage upon which reading comprehension questions are basedwords like although and nevertheless indicate that some qualifi-presents a sustained discussion of a particular topic, there is amplecation or opposition is taking place in the sentence, whereascontext for analyzing a variety of relationships; for example, themoreover implies an intensification or support of some idea infunction of a word in relation to a larger segment of the passage, thethe sentence.relationships among the various ideas in the passage, or the relation If a sentence has two blanks, be sure that both parts of yourof the author to his or her topic or to the audience.There are six types of reading comprehension questions. Theseanswer choice fit logically and stylistically into the sentence.types focus on (1) the main idea or primary purpose of the passage; When you have chosen an answer, read the complete sentence(2) information explicitly stated in the passage; (3) information orthrough to check that it has acquired a logically and stylisticallyideas implied or suggested by the author; (4) possible applicationssatisfying meaning.of the author’s ideas to other situations, including the identificationof situations or processes analogous to those described in the pas-Directions: The passage is followed by questions based on itssage; (5) the author’s logic, reasoning, or persuasive techniques; andcontent. After reading the passage, choose the best answer to(6) the tone of the passage or the author’s attitude as it is revealed ineach question. Answer all questions following the passage onthe language used.the basis of what is stated or implied in the passage.Some reading comprehension questions ask a question like thePicture-taking is a technique both for annexing thefollowing: “Which of the following hypothetical situations mostobjective world and for expressing the singular self.closely resembles the situation described in the passage?” SuchPhotographs depict objective realities that already exist,questions are followed by a series of answer choices that are notthough only the camera can disclose them. And theyexplicitly connected to the content of the reading passage but(5)depict an individual photographer’s temperament, dis-instead present situations or scenarios from other realms, one ofcovering itself through the camera’s cropping of reality.which parallels something in the passage in a salient way. You areThat is, photography has two antithetical ideals: in theasked to identify the one answer choice that is most clearly analo-first, photography is about the world, and the photogra-gous to the situation presented in the passage.pher is a mere observer who counts for little; but in theIn each edition of the General Test, there are three or more(10)second, photography is the instrument of intrepid,reading comprehension passages, each providing the basis forquesting subjectivity and the photographer is all.answering two or more questions. The passages are drawn fromThese conflicting ideals arise from a fundamentaldifferent subject matter areas, including the humanities, the socialuneasiness on the part of both photographers and view-sciences, the biological sciences, and the physical sciences.ers of photographs toward the aggressive component inSome approaches that may be helpful in answering reading com-(15)“taking” a picture. Accordingly, the ideal of a photogra-prehension questions:pher as observer is attractive because it implicitly denies Since reading passages are drawn from many different disciplinesthat picture-taking is an aggressive act. The issue, ofand sources, you should not expect to be familiar with the mate-course, is not so clear-cut. What photographers do can-rial in all the passages. However, you should not be discouragednot be characterized as simply predatory or as simply,by encountering material with which you are not familiar; ques-and essentially, benevolent. As a consequence, one ideal of(20)tions are to be answered on the basis of the information providedpicture-taking or the other is always being rediscoveredin the passage, and you are not expected to rely on outside knowl-and championed.edge, which you may or may not have, of a particular topic.An important result of the coexistence of these two Whatever strategy you choose, you should analyze the passageideals is a recurrent ambivalence toward photography’scarefully before answering the questions. As with any kind of(25)means. Whatever the claims that photography mightclose and thoughtful reading, you should be sensitive to cluesmake to be a form of personal expression on a par withthat will help you understand less explicit aspects of the passage.painting, its originality is inextricably linked to the pow-Try to separate main ideas from supporting ideas or evidence; tryers of a machine. The steady growth of these powers hasalso to separate the author’s own ideas or attitudes from informa-made possible the extraordinary informativeness andtion he or she is simply presenting. It is important to note transi-imaginative formal beauty of many photographs, like(30)tions from one idea to the next and to examine the relationshipsHarold Edgerton’s high-speed photographs of a bulletamong the different ideas or parts of the passage. For example,hitting its target or of the swirls and eddies of a tennisare they contrasting? Are they complementary? You should con-stroke. But as cameras become more sophisticated, moresider both the points the author makes and the conclusions he orautomated, some photographers are tempted to disarmshe draws and also how and why those points are made or con-(35)themselves or to suggest that they are not really armed,clusions drawn.preferring to submit themselves to the limits imposed by Read each question carefully and be certain that you understandpremodern camera technology because a cruder, lesshigh-powered machine is thought to give more interest-exactly what is being asked.ing or emotive results, to leave more room for creative Always read all the answer choices before selecting the best(40)accident. For example, it has been virtually a point ofanswer.honor for many photographers, including Walker Evans The best answer is the one that most accurately and most com-and Cartier-Bresson, to refuse to use modern equipment.pletely answers the question being posed. Be careful not to pickThese photographers have come to doubt the value of thean answer choice simply because it is a true statement; be carefulcamera as an instrument of “fast seeing.” Cartier-Bresson,also not to be misled by answer choices that are only partially(45)in fact, claims that the modern camera may see too fast.true or only partially satisfy the problem posed in the question.This ambivalence toward photographic means deter- Answer the questions on the basis of the information providedmines trends in taste. The cult of the future (of faster andin the passage and do not rely on outside knowledge. Your ownfaster seeing) alternates over time with the wish to returnviews or opinions may sometimes conflict with the viewsto a purer past — when images had a handmade quality.expressed or the information provided in the passage; be sure(50)This nostalgia for some pristine state of the photographicthat you work within the context provided by the passage. Youenterprise is currently widespread and underlies theshould not expect to agree with everything you encounter inpresent-day enthusiasm for daguerreotypes and the workreading passages.of forgotten nineteenth-century provincial photographers.Photographers and viewers of photographs, it seems, need(55)periodically to resist their own knowingness.