Reading Comprehension Final Practice Test

Practice Passage 2 and Questions

Big Apple Jewish Cuisine

No trip to New York City is complete until you've visited one of New York's famed Jewish food stores or delicatessens to nosh on treats of European and Central European Jewish origin: bagels and lox, Romanian pastrami on rye, chopped liver, cheesecake, or matzoh ball soup. Many classic Jewish delis, such as Reuben's, have now closed their doors, but the famous Katz's Delicatessen and the Second Avenue Deli still offer traditional Jewish deli specialty foods to a grateful clientele of native New Yorkers and international tourists.

If you're in the mood for an appetizing Jewish treat, visit Barney Greengrass's The Sturgeon King, or Russ & Daughters for smoked or pickled fish, kippered salmon, whitefish, lox, and herring in sour cream sauce. If you're in the mood for a frothy, thirst-quenching beverage, visit the East Village's Chocolate Bar for a delicious chocolate egg cream. The egg cream is a classic New York treat that was concocted by Jewish candy store owner Louis Auster in Brooklyn, New York, in 1890.

Regardless of your personal taste, there's a Jewish specialty food that is perfect for you. The next time you visit New York City, be sure to indulge in a puffy, hot knish or a warm and tasty brisket sandwich for lunch. If you're really hungry, go for the gold! Sink your teeth into a towering, overstuffed corned beef, chopped liver, and coleslaw sandwich at Katz's Deli. Are you hungry yet?

8. What is the main topic of this article?
   1. ethnic sandwiches
   2. Jewish specialty food in New York
   3. food in the Big Apple
   4. New York taste sensations
9. This article can best be described as
   1. nonfiction.
   2. personal.
   3. fictional.
   4. historical.
10. What is the tone of this article?
    1. humorous
    2. sophisticated
    3. cold
    4. enticing
11. What conclusion can you draw from this article?
    1. Certain food establishments in New York serve a variety of delicious Jewish deli treats.
    2. New Yorkers eat only Jewish deli food.
    3. New York offers different ethnic foods.
    4. The egg cream is making a major comeback.
12. The Chocolate Bar is a classic New York Jewish deli.
    1. true
    2. false
13. Egg creams are a European delicacy.
    1. true
    2. false
14. A knish is
    1. a meatball.
    2. a type of beverage.
    3. European fish.
    4. a filled and fried ball of dough.
15. "New York has the best Jewish cuisine. "This statement is
    1. a fact.
    2. an opinion.

Practice Passage 3 and Questions

"The Weekly Visit" (short story excerpt)

The requisite visit happened typically on sunny Saturdays, when my child spirits were at their highest and could be most diminished by the cramped interior of her house. My mother, accustomed to the bright, spacious farmhouse that was once Grandma's, seemed no less susceptible to the gloom. She would set her jaw as Grandma described the many ailments attendant on age and would check her watch—an hour being the minimum she expected herself to withstand. Her barely contained impatience and my grandmother's crippling age radiated out around me. We were the women of the Carlson clan, each throbbing with agitation, like concentric, blinking circles on a radar screen.

I would sit at the white and red metal table with the pull-out leaves and built-in silverware drawer, cracking almonds. This was the one good thing at Grandma's house, the almonds, which she kept in a green Depression glass bowl. I would lift the lid carefully and try to set it down on the metal table quietly, then attempt to crack the nuts without scattering the shell crumbs. It was not good to draw attention to myself at Grandma Carlson's. Sounding angry, she would call to me in her croupy drawl. When I failed to understand her, she would reach out to me with her palsied, slick, wrinkled hand and shout, "Here!" She would be offering some of her horehound candy, which tasted like a cross between butterscotch and bitter sticks.

There was this lamentable air in the dim house with its itchy mohair furniture and its dark colors, an awareness—Grandma's—underlying the mentholatum, that her age scared her grandkids. I would yearn during the dutiful visit to get outside into the yard, where Grandma had transplanted a few flowers when she moved from the farm. But even the yard, with its overgrown hedges and rusted metal lawn chairs, seemed dreary. When I came back inside, light and air bursting in with me, Grandma, her hair up in a gray bun, would rock a little and smile. I would lean then against my mother's chair, Grandma's fond eyes peering at me, and whisper out of the corner of my mouth, "Mom, can we go?"

16. From the overall context of the passage, it is most likely that the word requisite means
    1. essential.
    2. recreational.
    3. happy.
    4. weekly.
17. Which of the following does the radar screen image underscore?
    1. the narrator's absorption in gadgets and the modern world
    2. the narrator's daydreaming nature
    3. the narrator's uneasy sense of her place in the same lineage as her mother and grandmother
    4. all of the above
18. In revising this story, the author is considering taking out the reference to "butterscotch and bitter sticks" and instead describing the candy as "bitter with a sweet under-taste." Which is better—the original or this alternative description—and why?
    1. the original, because it leaves the actual taste up to the reader's imagination
    2. the original, because it is more vivid and exact
    3. the alternative, because it is more brief and to the point
    4. the alternative, because it is more vivid and exact
19. Assume this piece is fiction and could have been written from any point of view. What would a switch to third person achieve?
    1. Readers would be somewhat distanced from the narrator's feelings.
    2. The author would have more latitude to express the narrator's feelings.
    3. Readers would be more likely to identify with the feelings expressed.
    4. The grandmother's feelings would become more apparent.
20. In a previous version of this story, the author described the garden as having "lush hedges and quaint metal chairs." Why is it more effective to describe the hedges as "overgrown" and the chairs as "rusted"?
    1. These words add to the sense of age lingering over the place.
    2. These words have a negative connotation, which mirrors the girl's feelings about the visits.
    3. These words make the garden seem like less of an escape than the girl had hoped for.
    4. all of the above
21. Which of the following accurately reflects the comparative attitudes of the characters in this excerpt?
    1. The attitudes of the mother and the daughter are similar.
    2. The attitudes of the grandmother and the mother are similar.
    3. The attitudes of the grandmother and the granddaughter are similar.
    4. The attitudes of the mother and the daughter are dissimilar.

Practice Passage 4 and Questions

"The Wolf and the Crane"

A wolf who had a bone stuck in his throat hired a crane, for a large sum, to put her head into his mouth and draw out the bone. When the crane had extracted the bone and demanded the promised payment, the wolf, grinning and grinding his teeth, exclaimed, "Why, you have surely already had a sufficient recompense, in having been permitted to draw out your head in safety from the mouth and jaws of a wolf."

22. Following is a list of morals from this and other Aesop's fables. Which one is the most likely companion to this fable?
    1. Self-help is the best help.
    2. The loiterer often blames delay on his more active friend.
    3. The greatest kindness will not bind the ungrateful.
    4. In serving the wicked, expect no reward.

Practice Passage 5 and Questions

Fly-Rights—A Consumer Guide to Air Travel (excerpt)

If your reservations are booked far enough ahead of time, the airline may offer to mail your tickets to you. However, if you don't receive the tickets and the airline's records show that they mailed them, you may have to go through cumbersome lost-ticket procedures. It is safer to check the telephone directory for a conveniently located travel agency or airline ticket office and buy your tickets there.

As soon as you receive your ticket, make sure all the information on it is correct, especially the airports (if any of the cities have more than one) and the flight dates. Have any necessary corrections made immediately.

It's a good idea to reconfirm your reservations before you start your trip; flight schedules sometimes change. On international trips, most airlines require that you reconfirm your onward or return reservations at least 72 hours before each flight. If you don't, your reservations may be canceled.

Check your tickets as you board each flight to ensure that only the correct coupon has been removed by the airline agent.

23. Numbering the paragraphs 1 through 4 as they now appear, choose the option that places them in chronological order.
    1. 2, 3, 4, 1
    2. 3, 1, 2, 4
    3. 3, 2, 1, 4
    4. 1, 2, 3, 4
24. Which type of reader would benefit the most from reading this article?
    1. an experienced business traveler
    2. a travel agent
    3. a first-time airline passenger
    4. a person who is trying to overcome a fear of flying
25. As the passage appears in paragraph 1, why is it suggested that you buy your tickets from a "conveniently located" agency or office?
    1. because you can stop on your way to the airport to pick up your tickets
    2. because you can pick your tickets up rather than relying on the mail
    3. because the airlines themselves often make mistakes in issuing tickets
    4. because it is good to support local businesses
26. Which is a possible result of not following the advice offered in the first sentence of paragraph 2?
    1. You might fly into the right city, but the wrong airport.
    2. You might miss your flight, because the date was improperly recorded.
    3. You might not be allowed to board your flight because the name on the ticket doesn't match that on your ID.
    4. Any of the above could happen as a result of not following the advice.

Practice Passage 6 and Questions

Bear Story

Campers Gene and Marie Marsden took pride in being good citizens when in the wild. While driving the 300 miles from their home in Colorado to the Green River Lakes area of the Wind River Mountains in Wyoming, they instructed their children in the protocol they'd learned in the bear safety pamphlet put out by the Bridger-Teton Forest Service. The number-one rule was "Don't feed the bears!"—whether intentionally or not. Warning the kids not to go anywhere near a bear, the Marsdens had no problem with the intentional part, but the unintentional part was not as easy to avoid as they thought.

Mr. and Mrs. Marsden did their best to keep a tidy camp. While the bear manual had said to hang all food at least ten feet off the ground and four feet out from the trunk of a tree, they did what all the other people in the nearby public campground were doing and locked their food in their little utility trailer at night. Afraid that the scent of the bait might attract a bear, they even locked up Marie's fishing pole. It was always dark when they went to bed, but they perused the campsite with flashlights, making sure nothing was left out. Taking the recommended precaution of sleeping a hundred yards from where they cooked their food, they kept the car near their tents, unhitched from the trailer, which they left up at the other camp. Before going to bed each night, all of the Marsdens took off the clothes they had worn during the day while eating, replacing them with pajamas that they used only for sleeping. They were also careful to lock the dirty laundry in the trailer. As the pamphlet advised, they took no snacks into their tents.

Gene says he now regrets not having taken their dog into the tent at night, but they liked having him on guard. Small animals would often come sniffing around, and the dog would chase them back into the thickets, then return to the hollow he'd dug for himself in front of the children's tent. But on the night of the encounter, Spike would not stop barking, and Marie Marsden knew he must be sounding the alarm on something more dangerous and dauntless than a raccoon or squirrel. When she unzipped the tent and shined her flashlight in the direction of the cooking area, she saw Spike attempting to hold a young grizzly bear at bay.

They all managed to pile into the car, and with the kids sitting atop stuffed sacks full of clothes and gear, they drove quickly down the trail, calling out the window to Spike and abandoning the cargo trailer to whatever fate the bear might have in store for it. Uncertain whether the bear was following, one of the children opened a door and loaded Spike up on the run. They drove to a pay phone 20 miles away and called a Fish and Game Department ranger, who identified the bear by the white ruff the Marsdens had seen around his neck. The authorities informed the Marsdens that the bear was a young, recently weaned male that they'd been keeping an eye on.

The next morning, the Marsdens heard helicopters circling over the mountain above them and wondered if it might have something to do with the bear. After spending the night in the public campground, they drove back to their site. Wandering the area in search of clues, Marie came to a halt below the tallest spruce. She slapped her head and shouted, "Oh no!"

"What is it?" Gene asked.

Marie pointed at the ground where Spike's dog food bowl lay upside down.

A week after their return home, the Marsdens read the headline in their local paper. "Bear Euthanized in Wind Rivers." According to the article, the Fish and Game Department had shot the young bear because, having been rewarded for invading a human campsite, it would likely do so again.

The Marsdens knew they had been lucky in the encounter, yet much to their shame and sadness, they also knew that the bear had not.

27. Which of the following statements is false?
    1. The Marsdens like to camp.
    2. The Marsdens' dog chases squirrels and barks too much.
    3. The Marsdsens are a considerate and compassionate married couple.
    4. The Marsdens' dog cornered a young grizzly.
28. Who does the author imply is mostly to blame in the bear's death?
    1. the Marsdens, because they were not careful enough
    2. the bear, because he invaded a human camp
    3. the Fish and Game authorities, because of poor communication with campers
    4. the Forest Service, for putting out incomplete information
29. In paragraph 2, it can be determined from the context that the word perused means
    1. neglected.
    2. cleaned.
    3. studied.
    4. hid.
30. In paragraph 3, it can be determined from the context that the word dauntless means
    1. stupid.
    2. fearless.
    3. clumsy.
    4. spineless.
31. This story is arranged
    1. like a news story, with the most important event told first.
    2. in reverse chronological order, with the last event first.
    3. in standard chronological order, with events told in the order they occurred.
    4. in mixed, random order.
32. What was the "reward" referred to in the next to last paragraph?
    1. the bear seeing the Marsdens run from him
    2. the bear receiving no punishment for disturbing humans
    3. the bear being able to stand off Spike
    4. the bear getting the dog food
33. The tone and style of this piece make it appropriate for which of the following types of publications?
    1. a scientific report on human-bear interaction
    2. a pamphlet on bear safety such as the one the Marsdens read
    3. a statistical study on bear fatalities in the Western mountains
    4. a human interest article in the Sunday magazine of a newspaper

Practice Passage 7 and Questions

A Plains Childhood

When I think of my family's history on the land, I experience a pang of regret. Unlike much of the arid West, where the land has gone virtually unchanged for centuries, my place of origin, western Kansas, has been torn up by agriculture. The flat plains, excellent soil, and sparse but just adequate rainfall permitted farming; therefore farming prevailed, and a good 90% of the original sod prairie is gone. The consequence, in human terms, is that our relationship to our place has always felt primarily mercantile. We used the land and denied, or held at bay, its effect on us. Yet from my earliest childhood, when most of the Kansas prairie was still intact, I've known that the land also had a romantic quality. I've felt moved by the expanse of it, enthralled by its size. I take pride in my identity as a plains daughter.

34. Which of the following is the most accurate restatement of the author's position?
    1. The presence of people has enriched the plains habitat.
    2. Farming has improved the soil of the plains.
    3. Farming has eroded the natural beauty of the plains.
    4. Farming has chemically polluted the plains.
35. The argument in this paragraph is based primarily on
    1. facts of history and statistical studies.
    2. facts derived from the author's research.
    3. feelings the author has picked up from personal experience.
    4. ideas passed down to the author by ancestors.
36. From context, it can be determined that the word mercantile has something to do with
    1. practicality.
    2. danger.
    3. America.
    4. spirituality.

Practice Passage 8 and Questions

Maine's Glacial Past

The coast of the State of Maine is one of the most irregular in the world. A straight line running from the southernmost coastal city to the northernmost coastal city would measure about 225 miles. If you followed the coastline between these points, you would travel more than ten times as far. This irregularity is the result of what is called a drowned coastline. The term comes from the glacial activity of the Ice Age. At that time, the whole area that is now Maine was part of a mountain range that towered above the sea. As the glacier descended, however, it expended enormous force on those mountains, and they sank into the sea.

As the mountains sank, ocean water charged over the lowest parts of the remaining land, forming a series of twisting inlets and lagoons of contorted grottos and nooks. The highest parts of the former mountain range, nearest the shore, remained as islands. Mt. Desert Island was one of the most famous of all the islands left behind by the glacier. Marine fossils found here were 225 feet above sea level indicating the level of the shoreline prior to the glacier.

The 2,500-mile-long rocky and jagged coastline of Maine keeps watch over nearly 2,000 islands. Many of these islands are tiny and uninhabited, but many are home to thriving communities. Mt. Desert Island is one of the largest, most beautiful of the Maine coast islands. Measuring 16 miles by 12 miles, Mt. Desert was very nearly formed as two distinct islands. It is split almost in half by Somes Sound, a very deep and very narrow stretch of water seven miles long.

For years, Mt. Desert Island, particularly its major settlement, Bar Harbor, afforded summer homes for the wealthy. Recently, though, Bar Harbor has become a burgeoning arts community as well. But the best part of the island is the unspoiled forest land known as Acadia National Park. Since the island sits on the boundary line between the temperate and subarctic zones, the island supports the flora and fauna of both zones as well as beach, inland, and alpine plants. It also lies in a major bird migration lane and is a resting spot for many birds.

The establishment of Acadia National Park in 1916 means that this natural monument will be preserved and that it will be available to all people, not just the wealthy. Visitors to Acadia may receive nature instruction from the park naturalists as well as enjoy camping, hiking, cycling, and boating. Or they may choose to spend time at the archeological museum learning about the Stone Age inhabitants of the island.

The best view on Mt. Desert Island is from the top of Cadillac Mountain. This mountain rises 1,532 feet, making it the highest mountain on the Atlantic seaboard. From the summit, you can gaze back toward the mainland or out over the Atlantic Ocean and contemplate the beauty created by a retreating glacier.

37. Which of the following lists of topics best outlines the information in the selection?

    1. Ice-Age glacial activity

       The Islands of Casco Bay

       Formation of Cadillac Mountain

       Summer residents of Mt. Desert Island

    2. Formation of a drowned coastline

       The topography of Mt. Desert Island

       The environment of Mt. Desert Island

       Tourist attractions on Mt. Desert Island

    3. Mapping the Maine coastline

       The arts community at Bar Harbor

       History of the National Park system

       Climbing Cadillac Mountain

    4. The effect of glaciers on small islands

       Stone-Age dwellers on Mt. Desert Island

       The importance of biodiversity

       Hiking in Acadia National Park

38. Which of the following statements best expresses the main idea of paragraph 4 of the selection?
    1. The wealthy residents of Mt. Desert Island selfishly kept it to themselves.
    2. Acadia National Park is one of the smallest of the national parks.
    3. On Mt. Desert Island, there is great tension between the year-round residents and the summer tourists.
    4. Due to its location and environment, Mt. Desert Island supports an incredibly diverse animal and plant life.
39. According to the selection, the large number of small islands along the coast of Maine are the result of
    1. glaciers forcing a mountain range into the sea.
    2. Maine's location between the temperate and subarctic zones.
    3. the irregularity of the Maine coast.
    4. the need for summer communities for wealthy tourists and artists.
40. The content of paragraph 5 indicates that the writer believes that
    1. the continued existence of national parks is threatened by budget cuts.
    2. the best way to preserve the environment on Mt. Desert Island is to limit the number of visitors.
    3. national parks allow large numbers of people to visit and learn about interesting wilderness areas.
    4. Mt. Desert Island is the most interesting tourist attraction in Maine.
41. According to the selection, the coast of Maine is
    1. 2,500 miles long.
    2. 3,500 miles long.
    3. 225 miles long.
    4. 235 miles long.
42. What is the meaning of the underlined phrase flora and fauna in paragraph 4 of this passage?
    1. insects and plants
    2. plants and animals
    3. deer and coyote
    4. birds and beaches

Practice Passage 9 and Questions

Immune Functions

The immune system is equal in complexity to the combined intricacies of the brain and nervous system. The success of the immune system in defending the body relies on a dynamic regulatory communications network consisting of millions and millions of cells. Organized into sets and subsets, these cells pass information back and forth like clouds of bees swarming around a hive. The result is a sensitive system of checks and balances that produces an immune response that is prompt, appropriate, effective, and self-limiting.

At the heart of the immune system is the ability to distinguish between self and nonself. When immune defenders encounter cells or organisms carrying foreign or nonself molecules, the immune troops move quickly to eliminate the intruders. Virtually every body cell carries distinctive molecules that identify it as self. The body's immune defenses do not normally attack tissues that carry a self-marker. Rather, immune cells and other body cells coexist peaceably in a state known as self-tolerance. When a normally functioning immune system attacks a nonself molecule, the system has the ability to "remember" the specifics of the foreign body. Upon subsequent encounters with the same species of molecules, the immune system reacts accordingly. With the possible exception of antibodies passed during lactation, this so called immune system memory is not inherited. Despite the occurrence of a virus in your family, your immune system must "learn" from experience with the many millions of distinctive nonself molecules in the sea of microbes in which we live. Learning entails producing the appropriate molecules and cells to match up with and counteract each nonself invader.

Any substance capable of triggering an immune response is called an antigen. Antigens are not to be confused with allergens, which are most often harmless substances (such as ragweed pollen or cat hair) that provoke the immune system to set off the inappropriate and harmful response known as allergy. An antigen can be a virus, a bacterium, a fungus, a parasite, or even a portion or product of one of these organisms. Tissues or cells from another individual (except an identical twin, whose cells carry identical self-markers) also act as antigens; because the immune system recognizes transplanted tissues as foreign, it rejects them. The body will even reject nourishing proteins unless they are first broken down by the digestive system into their primary, nonantigenic building blocks. An antigen announces its foreignness by means of intricate and characteristic shapes called epitopes, which protrude from its surface. Most antigens, even the simplest microbes, carry several different kinds of epitopes on their surface; some may even carry several hundred. Some epitopes will be more effective than others at stimulating an immune response. Only in abnormal situations does the immune system wrongly identify self as nonself and execute a misdirected immune attack. The result can be a so-called autoimmune disease such as rheumatoid arthritis or systemic lupus erythematosis. The painful side effects of these diseases are caused by a person's immune system actually attacking itself.

43. What is the analogy used to describe the communications network among the cells in the immune system?
    1. the immune system's memory
    2. immune troops eliminating intruders
    3. bees swarming around a hive
    4. a sea of microbes
44. The immune cells and other cells in the body coexist peaceably in a state known as
    1. equilibrium.
    2. self-tolerance.
    3. harmony.
    4. tolerance.
45. What is the specific term for the substance capable of triggering an inappropriate or harmful immune response to a harmless substance such as ragweed pollen?
    1. antigen
    2. microbe
    3. allergen
    4. autoimmune disease
46. How do the cells in the immune system recognize an antigen as "foreign" or "nonself?"
    1. through an allergic response
    2. through blood type
    3. through fine hairs protruding from the antigen surface
    4. through characteristic shapes on the antigen surface
47. After you have had the chicken pox, your immune system will be able to do all of the following EXCEPT
    1. prevent your offspring from infection by the chicken pox virus.
    2. distinguish between your body cells and that of the chicken pox virus.
    3. "remember" previous experiences with the chicken pox virus.
    4. match up and counteract nonself molecules in the form of the chicken pox virus.
48. Which of the following best expresses the main idea of this passage?
    1. An antigen is any substance that triggers an immune response.
    2. The basic function of the immune system is to distinguish between self and nonself.
    3. One of the immune system's primary functions is the allergic response.
    4. The human body presents an opportune habitat for microbes.
49. Why would tissue transplanted from father to daughter have a greater risk of being detected as foreign than a tissue transplanted between identical twins?
    1. The age of the twins' tissue would be the same and therefore less likely to be rejected.
    2. The identical twin's tissue would carry the same self-markers and would therefore be less likely to be rejected.
    3. The difference in the sex of the father and daughter would cause the tissue to be rejected by the daughter's immune system.
    4. The twins' immune systems would "remember" the same encounters with childhood illnesses.
50. Antigens differ from allergens because
    1. allergens are usually harmless substances, while antigens can be harmful viruses, fungus or parasites.
    2. antigens trigger an immune system response and allergens do not.
    3. people sensitive to allergens experience visible physical symptoms while people with antigens do not suffer from obvious responses or symptoms.
    4. There is no difference between an antigen and an allergen.

Answers

1. b.
2. b.
3. b.
4. c.
5. a.
6. c.
7. d.
8. b.
9. a.
10. d.
11. a.
12. b.
13. b.
14. d.
15. b.
16. a.
17. c.
18. b.
19. a.
20. d. 
21. a
22. d.
23. d.
24. c.
25. b.
26. d.
27. b.
28. a.
29. c.
30. b.
31. c.
32. d.
33. d.
34. c.
35. c.
36. a.
37. b.
38. d.
39. a.
40. c.
41. a.
42. b.
43. c.
44. b.
45. c.
46. d.
47. a.
48. b.
49. b.
50. a.