dragonflies

While dragonflies have several traits that inspire wonder, many people believe these flying insects are pests. Dragonflies spend much of their lives around water. They not only lay their eggs in or near the water, but their ??? young also develop in the water. In fact, dragonflies actually spend more of their lives as immature under??? grubs than as the mature flying creatures most people recognize. Though dragonflies possess six legs (like all insects), they are completely incapable of walking. Instead they use their powerful wings to get around, and their legs are merely used to cling to objects. The following questions are based on this passage.

33. Which of the following statements from the passage contains an opinion?

A. Dragonflies have several traits that inspire wonder.

B. Dragonflies spend much of their lives around water.

C. They are completely incapable of walking.

D. Their legs are merely used to cling to objects.

 

34. Which of the following is a logical conclusion based on the passage?

A. Most dragonflies succumb to predication before reaching maturation

B. Dragonflies have stronger wings than insects living in and environment

C. A drought would likely have an adverse affect on dragonfly populations

D. Dragonflies are in the same insect order as common flies.

The Union Stock Yards (often just called The Yards) was a great Chicago meatpacking district that exited from the mid-19th century up to the middle of 20th century. For a time The Yards was the busiest meat processing area in the world. The Yards existed because it was convenient. A great number of railroad line converged in Chicago, making it an excellent point to collect hogs and cattle, slaughter them, and distributes the meat nationwide. The Yards became obsolete when trucks started delivering cattle, making the railroad less essential. Today The Yards has been made into an industrial park. The following questions are based on this passage.

 

35. Which of the following proposed titles best captures the main idea of the passage?

A. A historic overview of The Yards

B. The daily operation of The Yards

C. The impact of The Yards on Chicago

D. Reasons for developing The Yards

 

36. Which of the following styles of writing in demonstrated by the last sentence of the first paragraph?

A. Problem- solution

B Sequence

C. Cause-effect

D. Description .

 

Ears By the nature of their position and the delicacy of their structure, your hearing organs are particularly vulnerable to mishap. From the outside come blows that rupture the eardrums, noises that degenerate nerves, and air-pressing changes that disturb balancing mechanisms. Inside the body, infectious micro – organisms causes disease that effect hearing. Any one of these enemies is a potential cause of partial or even total deafness. Neglect of seemingly minor ear troubles can mean severe problems in the future – a fact that haunts every parent whose child wakes up in the middle of the night crying with an earache. The hearing mechanism is divided into four main parts. Each has a vital role in the process that transforms sound into intelligible communication. First, the external ear is made up of the auricle – that shell- shaped appendage on each side of the head – and the external ear canal. These structures collect sound waves and transmit them to the eardrum or tympanic membrane. The middle ear is an air-filled cavity behind the drum, and it contains three small bones (the ossicles) that are vibrated by sound waves and serve to transmit the waves to the inner ear. Opening into the middle ear is the Eustachian tube, which connects the tympanic chamber with the nose and equalizes the pressure between the outside atmosphere and the middle ear. In the inner ear are the semicircular canal, which gives the body its balance, and the tiny hearing cells that transform the vibrations of the ossicles first into fluid waves and then into nerve impulses. Finally, the auditory nerve pathway carries impulses to the brain, where they are translated into words and signals. Altogether hearing represents a wonderfully complex arrangement for acoustical perfection – better by far than any human engineer has ever devised. Yet, millions of Americans suffer from impaired hearing.

37. Which of the following parts of the ear is most likely to be affected by flying on an airplane or diving into a swimming pool?

A. External ear

B. Middle ear

C. Inner ear

D. Auditory nerve pathways

 

38. Which of the following is the main idea of the passage?

a. Understanding how to care for one’s ears is essential to good health.

b. The intricate structure of the human ear is susceptible to damage.

c. Many people suffer from impaired hearing.

d. Ears can be harmed in a number of different ways.

 

39. Which of the following is a logical conclusion based on the passage ?

a. Human hearing is superior to that of other animals.

b. Childhood earaches can lead to severe problems later in life.

c. The pressure between the outside atmosphere and the middle ear must be exactly equalized for hearing.

d. The outer ear is the most important part in the hearing process because it translates sound waves into nerve impulses.

 

40. Which of the following types of text structure is used in the last four paragraphs?

a. Sequence

b. Problem- solution

c. Cause –effect

d. Argument

41. Which of the following is an example of an opinion in the passage?

a. The delicacy of the human ear makes it particularly vulnerable to harm.

b. Seemingly minor ear troubles can lead to severe problems.

c. Each part of the ear has a vital role in transforming sound.

d. The ear is a better acoustical structure than any engineer has ever designed.

News reporting Time magazine made waves in 2006 when, instead of selecting a politician, entertainer, or activist as its Person of the Year, it selected “you.” The magazine’s intention was to illustrate how millions of user-post blogs, videos, pictures, and other content had exploded onto the internet and changed the cultural landscape. No longer were a few large media companies the gatekeepers of news opinion, and entertainment. Instead, millions of individuals now had the power to reach a vast audience. The selection of “you” as Person of the Year highlighted the new forces power of the individual. This change is typically seen as positive.

News reporting, for example, is now undeniably more democratic an every individual is now capable of reporting or providing news commentary. For each ray of sunshine emerging from the Internet-fueled reality, however, there is corresponding dark cloud. For example: Yes, there are now thousands of news-reporting blogs. But many of these are poorly written and researched, and the worst of them spread dangerous The proliferation of free blogs and small, self-styled news sources also makes it difficult for larger, more traditional news agencies to charge for content. However, much of the factual information posted by individual bloggers and micro-agencies is plagiarized from traditional agencies.

What happens if the big agencies trait or shrink to a point where their budgets can no longer support legitimate journalism? In this case, news reporting as a whole will suffer. There are certainly disadvantages to letting a few large entities control the world’s news, but those entities provides several oft-overlooked positives. For the most part they enforce standards of quality, journalism, and accountability. Is the decline of these gatekeepers truly a win for society? Not necessarily. The following questions are based on the “News Reporting