TI'ST 1

Directions: For each question in this section, select the best answer from among the choices
given and fill in the corresponding circle on the answer sheet.

l. Julia feared that her 6-month hiatus from playing the piano would cause her musical skills
to -------.
(A) atrophy
(B) align
(C) develop
(D) reconcile
(E) disseminate

2. Selator Harris is widely viewed as a ------- orator; his speeches are full of
commentary and domineering opinions.
(A) vindictive . . pedantic
(B) conciliatory . . treacherous
(C) didactic . . moralizing
(D) dogmatic. . meek
(E) simplistic . . prosaic

3. Walter's beginning to annoy his coworkers; although they appreciated the

r,vas
thought he gave to his decisions, his inability to make up his mind was growing tiresome.
(A) vacillation
(ts) solicitation
(C) rejuvenation
(D) adrnonishment
(E) professionalism

4. To succeed as a writer, one needs a great deal of -------; successful writers are ------- even
in the face of countless rejections.
(A)affluence..haughty
(B) pertinacity . . apologetic
(C) intimidation . . resilient
(D) tenacity . . relentless
(E)stoutness..craven

5. Although direct, forceful stances usually appeal to voters on the campaign trail, candidates
usually resort to ------- during debates to avoid alienating any potential supporters.
(A) pontification
(B) circumlocution
(C) logic
(D) exaggeration
(E) brevity

6. Counselors in the prison rehabilitation program must have faith in the ------- of those who
have committed felonies, yet be wary of -------; they must believe that criminals can change,
but know that they can often return to their old habits.
(A) mutability . . astuteness
(B) variability . . consistcncy
(C) coarseness . . responsibility
(D) persuasion . . transcendence
(E) malleability . . relapse

7. Marullus' ref-erence to "chimney-tops" during his monologue in Julius Caesur is

considered by some historians , since such things are unlikely to have existed in Rome
in the first century BC.
(A) a miscalculation
(B) an anachronism
(C) an idiom
(D) an interlocutor
(E) a mirage

8. l'he letter "h" at the er-rd of Pittsburgh is ------- of American sentiments soon after World
War l; it was added as part of a movement during that time to make the names of American
cities sound less German.
(A) an inference
(B) an analogy
(C) a vestige
(D) an anomaly
(E) a quandary

Questions 9 and 10 are based on the following passage.

Although countries can construct redoubtable stone barriers to separate "us" fiom "others."
no barrier is stronger than language. We infer volumes from the language of another, whether
he is erudite or philistine, whether she is noble or mean. Our labels, too, can be impenetrable
walls: we are "freedom fighters," they are "tefforists"; we are the "faithful," they are the
"infidels." Those people who use such wall-language are the Manichaeans, those who refuse
to see, or cannot see, shades of gray, the subtle truths of humanity. Their "truths" are the most
clangerous weapons, wielded by the blind and the ignorant.

9. In this paragraph, language is characterized primarily as

(A) biased
(B) enlightening
(C) difficult to understand
(D) unifying
(E) changeable

10. The word "volumes" most nearly means

(A) spaces
(B) editions
(C) measurements
(D) an abundance
(E) capacities

Questions ll and 12 are based on the following passage.

It may bc difficult for adults to learn not to interfere but rather to supporl the child's desire
for freedom and autonomy. For example, if you watch a boy of three trying to tie his shoes,
you may see him work with extraordinary motivation even though the loops aren't matched,
and well over half the time as he tries for the final knot, he ends up with two separate laces,
one in each hand. Then watch his parents as they watch their children attempt a task like this.
Too often the parent will step in and take over, tie the shoes the "right way" and def-eat the
child's growing attempt at self-mastery. The same goes for putting on boots, coats, and even
playing with toys. It is exceedingly easy to fall into the trap of almost always responding
negatively to a child at this age. Commonly, a parent might say no up to 200 times a day at
this stage. Such nagging not only is aversive in the extreme, but also a constant reminder to
the child of his or her lack of se lf-control.

ll. The passage suggests that helping a boy to tie his shoes the "right way" can be (A)
necessary to his self-esteem
(l)) irnportant to his personal hygiene
(C) appropriate only if the boy has the necessary fine motor skills
(D) essential to teaching him patience
(E) harmful to his autonomous development

12. The passage indicates that negative responses to a child can lead to the child's
(A) rebellion
(B) feeling of helplessness
(C) persistence in the task
(D) mimicking of the negative behavior
(E) anger

Questions 13-18 are based on the following passage.

The follo*-irtg is an essay about T. S. Eliot, an American poet of the early 20th century, and
tlrc Motlerrtist movement, of which he was a part.

Modernism is the most peculiar of all artistic movements of the twentieth century and the
most difficult to pin down since people started coming up with "movements" ilr the first
place. Modernism is the only thing that strikes more fear into the heart of an English
undergraduate than the idea of going to a lecture. Critics and academics, not unwisely, prel'er
their artistic movements to be readily comprehensible and clearly enough defined to make
some logical sense. Modernism, however, will not be tamed. It is straggly, begins nowhere
and with no one in particular, and ends only when its writers have started to baffle even
tlremselves. One treads carefully through its key texts: James Joyce's Ulysses, T. S. Eliot's
Thc Wuste Land (both 1922), and Virginia Woolf s Mrs. Dalloway (1925). The authors of
these abcrrations, these posturing, egotistical, lunatic, kaleidoscopic works of blatant and
self-conscious genius, have laid literary landmines throughout their works. Joyce said of
U/ys.scs tlrat "I've put in so many enigmas and puzzles that it will keep the professors busy
for centuries arguing over what I meant, and that's the only way of insuring one"s
imrnortality." This statement sums up the enigma of modernism (if one can be said to sum up
an enigma) in that it contains arrogance mingling with modesty, cleverness tied up in self-
effacing humour, and above all absurdity with a purpose. Plots, such as they exist at all in
modernist writing, are submerged beneath wave upon wave of classical allusions, archaisms,
neologisrns, foreign languages, quotations, swear words and other hyperliterary and meta-
literary indulgcnces. If I haven't made it clear already, it is hard not to love modernism. lt is
hard to work out what exactly it is. Recently, while browsing in an Oxford bookshop, a friend
of mine picked up a copy of Finneguns Wake-James Joyce's linal book-and read the first
page. Between tears of laughter, he managed to indicate to me that he couldn't understand a
*urd of it. lt is hard not to sympathise with the outsider's attitude so amply demonstrated by
lry fi'ie1cl's outburst of shock and wonder. To find one of our most famous authors writing
gibberish is rather heartening. Yet we remain outsiders to the work. Finnegans Wake, you
iee, is emblematic of all that is right and wrong with modernism. It took a spectacularly long
tirne to write and was finally published in 1939, seventeen years after its predecessor,
U/ysses. That probably had something to do with the fact that over 40 different languages
crept into its catalogue of portmanteau words (ersatz words consisting of two or more real
words or word elements, like those of Irwis Carroll in his poem "Jabberwocky"). The
resulting book is uniquely inventive and at the same time uniquely confusing. In that sense, it
is the perfect example of a modernist text. It alienates its readers just as it tries to mimic how
they think. The English modernist novel is a sociopath and a cad: dangerous and reprehensive
but somehow roguishly likeable.

13. In the first paragraph, the author characterizes Modernism as which of the following?
I. self-centered
il. ill-tlefined
llI. politically oriented

(A) I only
(B) II only
(C) I and II only
(D) II and ill only
(E) l, lI, and lll

14. The passage suggests that critics and academics dislike artistic movements that are
(A) enigmatic
(B) comprehensible
(C) wide-tanging
(D) inventive
(E) socially conscious

15. Tlie "laudmiues" are

(A) cpisodes in novels that refer to violence
(B) criticisms of the works of other novelists
(C) new methods of analyzing literature
(D) literary devices intended to baffle academics
(E) lirnitations that publishers place on an author's work

16. The ref'erence to "wave upon wave" suggests that, in Modernist fiction, plot is
(A) a powerfully moving element
(B) secondary to other considerations
(C) dorninant over diction
(D) characterized by redundancy
(E) dangerous

17. The author's overall attitude toward Modernism can best be described as
(A) ambivalent
(B) reverential
(C) cynical
(D) indignant
(E) jocular

18. The final sentence of the passage employs each of the following EXCEPT
(A) siinile
(B) juxtaposition
(C) personification
(D) contrast
(E) metaphor

Questions 19-24 are based on the following passage.

The.followirtg is un excerpt lrutm u book on genomics, the new science of guthering ancl usirtg
the inlormation encoded in the genes of an orgunism.

Biology is being reborn as an information science, a progeny of the Information Age. As

information scientists, biologists concern themselves with the messages that sustain life, such
as the intricate series of signals that tell a fertilized egg to develop into a full-grown
organism, or the orchestrated response the immune system makes to an invading pathogen.
Molecules convey information, and it is their messages that are of paramount importance.
Each molecule interacts with a set of other molecules and each set communicates with
another set, such that all are interconnected. Networks of molecules give rise to cells;
networks of cells produce rnulticellular organisms; networks of people bring about cultures
and societies; and networks of species encompass ecosystems. Life is a web and the web is
life. Ironically, it was the euphoria for molecules that touched off this scientific revolution. In
the 1980s only a tiny percentage of the millions of different molecular components of living
bcings was known. In order to gain access to these molecules, a new science and even a new
industry had to be created. Genomics is the development and application of research tools
that uncover and analyze thousands of different molecules at a time. This new approach to
biology has been so successful that universities have created entire departments devoted to it,
and all major pharmaceutical companies now have large genomics divisions. Genomics has
granted biologists unprecedented access to the molecules of life, but this is more than just a
technological revolution. Through genomics massive amounts of biological information can
be converted into an electronic forrnat. This directly links the life sciences to the information
scienccs, thereby facilitating a dramatically new framework for understanding life.
Information is a message, a bit of news. It may be encoded or decoded. It may be conveyed
by srnoke signals, pictures, sound waves, electromagnetic waves, or innumerous other media,
but the information itself is not made of anything. It has no mass. Furthermore, information
always has a sender and an intended receiver. This implies an underlying intent, meaning, or
purpose. Information theory thus may seem unfit for the cold objectivism of science. The
focus of the information sciences, however, is not so much on information content, but rather
ou how messages are conveyed, processed, and stored. Advances in this area have been great
and have helped to propel the remarkable development of the computer and
telecommunication industries. Could these forces be harnessed to better understand the
human body and to improve human health?

19. The primary purpose of this passage is to

(A) refute a theory
(B) dcscribe the origins of a misconception
(C) analyze diff-erent perspectives on a phenomenon
(D) describe a new trend in a field of study
(E,) suggest a new method of teaching
20. The passage mentions each of the following as an example of elements interrelating to
form a larger whole EXCEPT
(A) molecules forming a cell
(ts) organisms forming an ecosystem
(C) pathogens forming the immune system
(D) individuals forming a society
(E) cells forming an organism

21. The passage mentious the "orchestrated response" primarily as an example of

(A) the coordinated efforts of scientists
(B) rnolecules conveying information
(C) the work being done to promote genomics
(D) the similarity between cells and
computers
(E) an unrealized potential of the cell

22. According to the passage, the "dramatically new framework" is one in which
(A) new university buildings are being built
(B) the immune system attacks a pathogen
(C) networks of molecules give rise to cells
(D) genornics research receives more federal funding
(E) biological data is translated into a new form

23. According to the passage, information theory "may seem unfit for the cold objectii,'ism of
science" bccause
(A) it is better suited to commercial industry than to academic study
(B) it can be conveyed by sound waves
(C) it suggests that messages rnay have meaning or purpose
(D) it is not rigorously studied
(E) it analyzes biological information

24. Which of the following best describes the function of the final paragraph in relation to the
rest of the passage?
(A) It modifies a theory presented earlier.
(B) It provides a solution to a problem mentioned earlier.
(C) It raises doubts about the value of genomics.
(D) lt indicates actual and potential consequences of genomics.
(E) It mentions a viable alternative to genomics.