RC Practice

Passage 1:

It is an unfortunate fact that most North Americans know little about American Indian
culture and history. Scholars have studied such matters, but they have not succeeded in
broadcasting their conclusions widely. Thus, it is still not widely known that American
Indians have epics, that they performed plays long before Europeans arrived, and that
they practiced politics and carried on trade.

One way to gain a fuller appreciation of this rich culture is to examine American Indian
poetry, for poetry is in all cultures the most central and articulate of the arts. It is
especially important that we study American Indian poetry as this poetry can create a
context that gives cohesive expression to the crafts, the artifacts, and the isolated facts
that many Americans have managed to notice willy-nilly . Even a survey of American
Indian poetry reveals a range of poetic thought and technique that defies easy
generalization. Jarold Ramsey hazards a summary, however, which serves at least to
give the uninitiated reader some sense of what American Indian poetry is like. Overall,
he writes, it represents “an oral, formulaic, traditional, and anonymous art form,” whose
approach is to emphasize the “mythic and sacred” components of reality. It “flourished
through public performances... by skilled recitalists whose audiences already knew the
individual stories” and valued the performers for their “ability to exploit their material
dramatically and to combine them ?their stories? in longer cycles” rather than for their
“plot invention.” Because this poetry belongs to highly ethnocentric tribal peoples, whose
cultures “we still do not know much about,” it “is likely to seem all the more terse, even
cryptic.”

American Indian poetry has another feature that Ramsey ignores: it is always functional.
Whether sung, chanted, or recited; whether performed ceremonially, as entertainment,
or as part of a task such as curing a patient or grinding corn; or whether recited
individually or by a group, it is always fully woven into the fabric of ordinary life.

For complicated reasons, American Indian poetry has basically been ignored by non-
Indian cultures. Kenneth Lincoln writes that failure to hear American Indian voices
results “partly...from the tragedies of tribal dislocation, partly from mistranslation, partly
from misconceptions about literature, partly from cultural indifference.” Brian Swann
suggests an additional explanation: tribal poetry is oral, whereas Europeans arrived in
the New World with a deeply ingrained belief in the primacy of the written word. As a
result, European settles found it hard to imagine that poetry could exist without written
texts and thus that the American Indians had achieved something parallel to what
Europeans called literature long before Europeans arrived. As a consequence, Europeans
did not fully respond to the rich vitality of American Indian poetry.

Question 1: According to the passage, American Indian cultures have produced all of
the following forms of artistic expression EXCEPT

1. crafts
2. dramas
3. songs
4. written poems
5. oral epics
Question 2: According to Jarold Ramsey, American Indian poetry is an art form
characterized by its

1. unusual depictions of landscapes

 2. integration with everyday affairs
3. universal accessibility
4. highly original plots
5. adaptability to public performance
Question 3: According to Kenneth Lincoln, one of the reasons that non-Indians have
had little knowledge of American Indian poetry is that American Indian poems

1. have been poorly translated

2. have not yet attracted the scholarly attention they deserve
3. can be appreciated only when presented orally
4. are difficult to understand without a background in comparative mythology
5. are too stylistically complex
Question 4: According to the passage, it would be unusual for American Indian poetry
to be

1. attributed to specific authors

2. sung by a group of performers
3. chanted while working
4. sung during a sacred ceremony
5. performed in a dramatic manner
Question 5: It can be inferred from the passage that Brian Swann believes which of the
following about the European settlers of America?

1. They probably were more literate, on the average, than the general European
population they left behind.
2. They probably thought it necessary to understand American Indian politics before
studying American Indian literature.
3. They probably did not recognize evidence of an oral poetic tradition in the
American Indian cultures they encountered.
4. They probably could not appreciate American Indian poetry because it was
composed in long narrative cycles.
5. They probably did not study American Indian poetry because its subject matter
was too practically oriented.
Question 6: The tone of lines 12-16 suggests that the author believes that most
Americans’ knowledge of American Indian culture can best be characterized as

1. spotty and contradictory

2. stereotyped and limited
3. confused and inaccurate
4. unsystematic and superficial
5. vague and biased
Question 7: Which of the following best describes the organization of the last paragraph
of the passage?

1. An observation is made and qualifications of it are provided.

2. A phenomenon is noted and explanations for it are presented.
3. A hypothesis is presented and arguments against it are cited.
4. A prognosis is made and evidence supporting it is discussed.
5. A criticism is presented and information expanding it is provided.

Passage 2

A majority taken collectively may be regarded as a being whose opinions and, most
frequently, whose interests are opposed to those of another being, which is styled a
minority. If it is admitted that a man possessing absolute power may misuse that power
by wronging his adversaries, why should a majority not be liable to the same reproach?
Men are not apt to change their characters by agglomeration; nor does their patience in
the presence of obstacles increase with the consciousness of their strength. For these
reasons we should not willingly invest any group of our fellows with that unlimited
authority which we should refuse to any individual.

One social power must always predominate over others, but liberty is endangered when
this power is checked by no obstacles which may retard its course and force it to
moderate its own vehemence. Unlimited power is in itself a bad and dangerous thing,
and no power on earth is so worthy of honor for itself or of reverential obedience to the
rights which it represents that we should admit its uncontrolled and all-predominant
authority. When the right and means of absolute command are conferred on a people or
a king, on an aristocracy or a democracy, a monarchy or a republic, there has been
implanted the germ of tyranny.

The main evil of the present democratic institutions of the United States does not arise,
as is often asserted in Europe, from their weakness, but from their overpowering
strength; the excessive liberty which reigns in that country is not so alarming as is the
very inadequate security which exists against tyranny.

When an individual or a party is wronged in the United States, to whom can he apply for
redress? If to the public opinion, public opinion constitutes the majority; if to the
legislature, it represents the majority and implicitly obeys its injunctions; if to the
executive power, it is appointed by the majority and remains a passive tool in its hands;
the public troops consist of the majority under arms; the jury is the majority invested
with the right of hearing judicial cases, and in certain states even the judges are elected
by the majority. However iniquitous or absurd the evil complained about, no sure barrier
is established to defend against it.

Question 8: Which of the following would be the most appropriate title for the passage?

1. The Tyranny of the Majority

2. Democracy: Triumph of the People
3. Abuses of Power
4. The Failure of Democracy in the United States
5. Minority Rights
Question 9: Which of the following best paraphrases the author’s statement in the third
sentence of paragraph 1 ?

1. Individuals do not change their behavior when they act in concert with others
who are likeminded, and, knowing they are acting as part of the group, they are
not likely to show greater restraint when opposed than they would if they were
acting individually.
2. Groups are not different from one another, they all show strong impatience when
thwarted.
3. The character of men is formed by the accumulation of their traits, and patience
is not a common trait among men of strength.
4. The leopard does not change its spots no matter how long it lives, and it is, and
remains, patient in the presence of obstacles.
5. Men change their behavior when they act in groups; they are more patient when
they are in the company of their fellows than they are when they are alone.

Question 10: With which of the following statements would the author of the passage
be most likely to agree?
 1. Democracy is no greater defense against tyranny than is monarchy or aristocracy.
2. Minority rule would probably be more responsive to the needs of all people than
majority rule.
3. No government should be trusted since all governments are equally tyrannical.
4. Since one social power must always predominate over others, it is futile to
provide checks and balances in government.
5. To render itself immune to the germ of tyranny, the United States should
strengthen its political institutions.

Question 11: Which of the following, assuming that each is true, would most weaken
the point that the author is making in the last two paragraphs of the passage?

1. The framers of the U.S. Constitution deliberately separated the three branches of
the government to prevent tyranny.
2. There is not a single majority in the United States; there are many majorities,
each composed of a different collection of individuals and each acting as a
restraint on the others.
3. The First Amendment to the U.S. Constitution specifically guarantees the right of
each citizen to petition the government for redress of grievances.
4. Even though the United States is not a direct democracy, all U.S. citizens have an
equal opportunity to participate in political life and to hold public office.
5. The framers of the U.S. Constitution had two primary concerns: to prevent the
government from exercising tyranny over the people and to prevent the majority
from exercising tyranny over the minority.

Question 12: The author’s treatment of the topic of the passage can best be described
as

1. ironic
2. neutral
3. logical
4. irreverent
5. diffident
Question 13: In the passage, the author is primarily concerned with

1. challenging a commonly held belief

2. contrasting two opposing views
3. advocating a course of action
4. reconciling an apparent conflict
5. proposing a solution to an unrecognized problem

Passage 3:

Milankovitch proposed in the early twentieth century that the ice ages were caused by
variations in the Earth’s orbit around the Sun. For sometime this theory was considered
untestable, largely because there was no sufficiently precise chronology of the ice ages
with which the orbital variations could be matched.

To establish such a chronology it is necessary to determine the relative amounts of land

ice that existed at various times in the Earth’s past. A recent discovery makes such a
determination possible: relative land-ice volume for a given period can be deduced from
the ratio of two oxygen isotopes, 16 and 18, found in ocean sediments. Almost all the
oxygen in water is oxygen 16, but a few molecules out of every thousand incorporate the
heavier isotope 18. When an ice age begins, the continental ice sheets grow, steadily
reducing the amount of water evaporated from the ocean that will eventually return to it.
Because heavier isotopes tend to be left behind when water evaporates from the ocean
surfaces, the remaining ocean water becomes progressively enriched in oxygen 18. The
degree of enrichment can be determined by analyzing ocean sediments of the period,
because these sediments are composed of calcium carbonate ) shells of marine
organisms, shells that were constructed with oxygen atoms drawn from the surrounding
ocean. The higher the ratio of oxygen 18 to oxygen 16 in a sedimentary specimen, the
more land ice there was when the sediment was laid down.

As an indicator of shifts in the Earth’s climate, the isotope record has two advantages.
First, it is a global record: there is remarkably little variation in isotope ratios in
sedimentary specimens taken from different continental locations. Second, it is a more
continuous record than that taken from rocks on land. Because of these advantages,
sedimentary evidence can be dated with sufficient accuracy by radiometric methods to
establish a precise chronology of the ice ages. The dated isotope record shows that the
fluctuations in global ice volume over the past several hundred thousand years have a
pattern: an ice age occurs roughly once every 100,000 years. These data have
established a strong connection between variations in the Earth’s orbit and the
periodicity of the ice ages.

However, it is important to note that other factors, such as volcanic particulates or

variations in the amount of sunlight received by the Earth, could potentially have
affected the climate. The advantage of the Milankovitch theory is that it is testable:
changes in the Earth’s orbit can be calculated and dated by applying Newton’s laws of
gravity to progressively earlier configurations of the bodies in the solar system. Yet the
lack of information about other possible factors affecting global climate does not make
them unimportant.

Question 14: In the passage, the author is primarily interested in

1. suggesting an alternative to an outdated research method

2. introducing a new research method that calls an accepted theory into question
3. emphasizing the instability of data gathered from the application of a new
scientific method
4. presenting a theory and describing a new method to test that theory
5. initiating a debate about a widely accepted theory
Question 15: The author of the passage would be most likely to agree with which of the
following statements about the Milankovitch theory?

1. It is the only possible explanation for the ice ages.

2. It is too limited to provide a plausible explanation for the ice ages, despite recent
research findings.
3. It cannot be tested and confirmed until further research on volcanic activity is
done.
4. It is one plausible explanation, though not the only one, for the ice ages.
5. It is not a plausible explanation for the ice ages, although it has opened up
promising possibilities for future research.

Question 16: It can be inferred from the passage that the isotope record taken from
ocean sediments would be less useful to researchers if which of the following were true?

1. It indicated that lighter isotopes of oxygen predominated at certain times.

2. It had far more gaps in its sequence than the record taken from rocks on land.
3. It indicated that climate shifts did not occur every 100,000 years.
4. It indicated that the ratios of oxygen 16 and oxygen 18 in ocean water were not
consistent with those found in fresh water. its gives only information
 5. It stretched back for only a million years.

Question 17: According to the passage, which of the following is true of the ratios of
oxygen isotopes in ocean sediments?

1. They indicate that sediments found during an ice age contain more calcium
carbonate than sediments formed at other times.
2. They are less reliable than the evidence from rocks on land in determining the
volume of land ice.
3. They can be used to deduce the relative volume of land ice that was present
when the sediment was laid down.
4. They are more unpredictable during an ice age than in other climatic conditions.
5. They can be used to determine atmospheric conditions at various times in the
past.

Question 18: It can be inferred from the passage that precipitation formed from
evaporated ocean water has

1. the same isotopic ratio as ocean water

2. less oxygen 18 than does ocean water
3. less oxygen 18 than has the ice contained in continental ice sheets
4. a different isotopic composition than has precipitation formed from water on land
5. more oxygen 16 than has precipitation formed from fresh water

Question 19: According to the passage, which of the following is true of the ice ages?

I. The last ice age occurred about 25,000 years ago.

II. Ice ages have lasted about 10,000 years for at least the last several hundred
thousand years.
III. Ice ages have occurred about every 100,000 years for at least the last several
hundred thousand years.
1. I only
2. II only
3. III Only
4. I and II only
5. I, II and III.
Question 20: It can be inferred from the passage that calcium carbonate shells

1. are not as susceptible to deterioration as rocks

2. are less common in sediments formed during an ice age
3. are found only in areas that were once covered by land ice
4. contain radioactive material that can be used to determine a sediment’s isotopic
composition
5. reflect the isotopic composition of the water at the time the shells were formed
Question 21: The purpose of the last paragraph of the passage is to

1. offer a note of caution

2. introduce new evidence
3. present two recent discoveries
4. summarize material in the preceding paragraphs
5. offer two explanations for a phenomenon

Question 22: According to the passage, one advantage of studying the isotope record of
ocean sediments is that it
 1. corresponds with the record of ice volume taken from rocks on land
2. shows little variation in isotope ratios when samples are taken from different
continental locations
3. corresponds with predictions already made by climatologists and experts in other
fields
4. confirms the record of ice volume initially established by analyzing variations in
volcanic emissions
5. provides data that can be used to substantiate records concerning variations in
the amount of sunlight received by the Earth

Passage 4:

Early models of the geography of the metropolis were unicellular: that is, they assumed
that the entire urban district would normally be dominated by a single central district,
around which the various economic functions of the community would be focused. This
central business district is the source of so-called high-order goods and services, which
can most efficiently be provided from a central location rather than from numerous
widely dispersed locations. Thus, retailers of infrequently and irregularly purchased
goods, such as fur coats, jewelry, and antique furniture, and specialized service outlets ,
such as theaters, advertising agencies, law firms, and government agencies, will
generally be found in the CBD. By contrast, less costly, more frequently demanded
goods, such as groceries and housewares, and low-order services, such as shoe repair
and hairdressing, will be available at many small, widely scattered outlets throughout
the metropolis.

Both the concentric-ring model of the metropolis, first developed in Chicago in the late
nineteenth century, and the sector model, closely associated with the work of Homer
Hoyt in the 1930s, make the CBD the focal point of the metropolis. The concentric-ring
model assumes that the varying degrees of need for accessibility to the CBD of various
kinds of economic entities will be the main determinant of their location. Thus, wholesale
and manufacturing firms, which need easy accessibility to the specialized legal, financial,
and governmental services provided in the CBD, will normally be located just outside the
CBD itself. Residential areas will occupy the outer rings of the model, with low-income
groups residing in the relatively crowded older housing close to the business zone and
high-income groups occupying the outermost ring, in the more spacious, newer
residential areas built up through urban expansion.

Homer Hoyt’s sector model is a modified version of the concentric-ring model.

Recognizing the influence of early established patterns of geographic distribution on the
later growth of the city, Hoyt developed the concept of directional inertia. According to
Hoyt, custom and social pressures tend to perpetuate locational patterns within the city.
Thus, if a particular part of the city becomes a common residential area for higher-
income families, perhaps because of a particular topographical advantage such as a lake
or other desirable feature, future expansion of the high-income segment of the
population is likely to proceed in the same direction. In our example, as the metropolis
expands, a wedge-shaped sector would develop on the east side of the city in which the
higher-income residence would be clustered. Lower-income residences, along with
manufacturing facilities, would be confined, therefore, to the western margins of the
CBD.

Although Hoyt’s model undoubtedly represented an advance in sophistication over the

simpler concentric-ring model, neither model fully accounts for the increasing importance
of focal points other than the traditional CBD. Recent years have witnessed he
establishment around older cities of secondary nuclei centered on suburban business
districts. In other cases, particular kinds of goods, services, and manufacturing facilities
have clustered in specialized centers away from the CBD, encouraging the development
of particular housing patterns in the adjacent areas. A new multicellular model of
metropolitan geography is needed to express these and other emerging trends of urban
growth.

Question 23: The primary purpose of the passage is to

1. explain the significance of Hoyt’s concept of directional inertia and its effect on
patterns of urban growth
2. emphasize the inadequacy of past attempts to explain patterns of urban
geography
3. analyze two varying theories concerning the distribution of residential areas
within and around the metropolis
4. describe two models of metropolitan geography and suggest their limitations
5. show the importance of the central business district as a focus for urban growth
Question 24: It can be inferred from the passage that according to a unicellular urban
model, law firms are commonly located near the center of a city mainly because

1. law firms benefit from the proximity to financial and governmental services that a
center city location provides
2. the demand for legal services is too irregular to support many small law firms in
the outer districts of the city
3. law firms require accessibility to the wholesale and retail businesses that provide
a major share of their clientele
4. the high-income groups that make up the primary users of legal services demand
easy access to the firms’ offices
5. the specialized service personnel required by a law firm are often interested in
residing as close as possible to the city center
Question 25: According to the concentric-ring model, in which of the following orders
would the areas of the typical city be arranged?

1. central business district, low-income housing, wholesale and manufacturing

businesses, high-income housing
2. central business district, wholesale and manufacturing businesses, low-income
housing, high-income housing
3. wholesale and manufacturing businesses, central business district, low-income
housing, high-income housing
4. central business district, high-income housing, wholesale and manufacturing
businesses, low-income housing
5. wholesale and manufacturing businesses, low-income housing, central business
district, high-income housing

Question 26: According to the passage, the sector model differs from the concentric-
ring model primarily in that it

1. stresses the role of topographic features in determining patterns of urban

development
2. emphasizes the continuing expansion of the city as an influence on urban
development
3. recognizes the importance of focal points of urban growth other than the
traditional central business district
4. assumes that the need for access to the central business district is the main
determinant of urban developmental patterns
5. takes into account the influence of certain social factors on urban geographical
patterns
Question 27: The passage states that both the concentric-ring model and the sector
model

1. inadequately represent the forms of urban development emerging in today’s cities

2. need to be considerably refined to be of real use to students of urban growth
3. have been superseded by more recently developed models of urban growth
4. represent older cities more accurately than they do newly founded metropolitan
areas
5. fail to explain the rapid outward growth of cities that has occurred in recent years

Question 28: According to the passage, an updated model of urban geography would
indicate the

1. phenomenal growth in population and area of suburban residential districts

beyond the limits of the city itself
2. recent decline in the influence of business and industry over the geographical
patterns of urban growth
3. growing importance of urban business and service centers located away from the
central business district
4. clustering of business facilities in recently built areas, while older districts are
turned into residential areas
5. gradual displacement of older urban centers by new, more highly specialized
cities in geographically dispersed locations
Question 29: All of the following are examples of the emerging trends of urban growth
described in the last paragraph of the passage EXCEPT

1. the construction in a suburban community of a large shopping mall where many

of the local residents do most of their buying
2. the opening of an industrial park on the outskirts of a declining older city
3. the construction of hospital-medical school complex near a highway fifteen miles
from a downtown business district
4. the building of a residential development near a suburban tool factory to house
the factory workers and their families
5. the creation of a luxury housing development in a rural setting thirty miles from
the center of a city
Question 30: Which of the following best describes the organization of the last
paragraph of the passage?

1. It summarizes the information presented in the first three paragraphs and draws
some conclusions.
2. It outlines a new model, applies it to recent phenomena, and argues in favor of
its adoption.
3. It introduces no evidence in support of an existing model.
4. It evaluates two models in the light of recent evidence and advocates the
development of a third model.
5. It compares one model unfavorably with another and develops the comparison by
citing examples.