PASSAGE 3 – Questions 21-30
There are many theories about the beginning of drama in ancient Greece. The one most widely accepted today is based on the assumption that drama evolved from ritual. The argument for this view goes as follows. In the beginning, human beings viewed the natural forces of the world, even the seasonal changes, as unpredictable, and they sought through various means, to control these unknown and feared powers. Those measures which appeared to bring the desired results were then retained and repeated until they hardened into fixed rituals. Eventually stories arose which explained or veiled the mysteries of the rites. As time passed some rituals were abandoned, but the stories, later called myths, persisted and provided material for art and drama.
Those who believe that drama evolved out of ritual also argue that those rites contained the seed of theater because music, dance, masks, and costumes were almost always used. Furthermore, a suitable site had to be provided for performances, and when the entire community did not participate, a clear division was usually made between the "acting area" and the "auditorium." In addition, there were performers, and since considerable importance was attached to avoiding mistakes in the enactment of rites, religious leaders usually assumed that task. Wearing masks and costumes, they often impersonated other people, animals, or supernatural beings, and mimed the desired effect - success in hunt or battle, the coming rain, the revival of the Sun - as an actor might. Eventually such dramatic representations were separated from religious activities.
Another theory traces the theater's origin from the human interest in storytelling. According to this view, tales (about the hunt, war, or other feats) are gradually elaborated, at first through the use of impersonation, action, and dialogue by a narrator and then through the assumption of each of the roles by a different person. A closely related theory traces theater to those dances that are primarily rhythmical and gymnastic or that are imitations of animal movements and sounds.
What does the passage many discuss?
- A. The origins of theater
- B. The role of ritual in modern dance
- C. The importance of storytelling
- D. The variety of early religious activities
- A. seasonal changes
- B. natural forces
- C. theories
- D. human beings
- A. The reason drams are often unpredictable
- B. The seasons in which dramas were performed
- C. The connection between myths and dramatic plots
- D. The importance of costumes in early drama
- A. Dance
- B. Costumes
- C. Music
- D. Magic
- A. thoughtful
- B. substantial
- C. relational
- D. ceremonial
- A. establishment
- B. performance
- C. authorization
- D. season
- A. mistakes
- B. costumes
- C. animals
- D. performers
- A. Ritual uses music whereas drama does not
- B. Ritual is shorter than drama
- C. Ritual requires fewer performers than drama
- D. Ritual has a religious purpose and drama does not
- A. No one really knows how the theater began
- B. Myths are no longer represented dramatically
- C. Storytelling is an important part of dance
- D. Dramatic activities require the use of costumes
- A. actions
- B. repetitions
- C. limitations
- D. behaviors
PASSAGE 4 – Questions 31-40
Staggering tasks confronted the people of the United States, North and South, when the Civil war ended. About a million and a half soldiers from both sides had to be demobilized, readjusted to civilian life, and reabsorbed by the devastated economy. Civil government also had to be put back on a peacetime basis and interference from the military had to be stopped.
The desperate plight of the South has eclipsed the fact that reconstruction had to be undertaken also in the North, though less spectacularly. Industries had to adjust to peacetime conditions, factories had to be retooled for civilian needs.
Financial problems loomed large in both the North and the South. The national debt had shot up from a modest $65 million in 1861, the year the ear started to nearly $3 billion in 1865, the year the war ended. This was a colossal sum for those days but one that a prudent government could pay. At the same time, war taxes had to be reduced to less burdensome levels.
Physical devastation caused by invading armies, chiefly in the South and border states, had to be repaired. This herculean task was ultimately completed, but with discouraging slowness. Other important questions needed answering. What would be the future of the four million black people who were freed from slavery? On what basis were the Southern states to be brought back into the Union?
What of the Southern leaders, all of whom were liable to charges of treason? One of these leaders, Jefferson Davis, President of the Southern Confederacy, was the subject of an insulting popular Northern song, "Hang Jeff Davis from a Sour Apple Tree." And even children sang it. Davis was temporarily chained in his prison cell during the early days of his two-year imprisonment. But he and the other Southern leaders were finally released, partly because it was unlikely that a jury from Virginia, a Southern Confederate state, would convict them. All the leaders were finally pardoned by President Johnson in 1868 in an effort to help reconstruction efforts proceed with as little bitterness as possible.
What does the passage mainly discuss?
- A. Wartime expenditures
- B. Problems facing the United States after the war
- C. Methods of repairing the damage caused by the war
- D. The results of government efforts to revive the economy
- A. specialized
- B. confusing
- C. various
- D. overwhelming
- A. developing
- B. ruined
- C. complicated
- D. fragile
- A. It was worse than in the North
- B. The cost was less than expected
- C. It was centered in the border states
- D. It was remedied rather quickly
- A. helping soldiers readjust
- B. restructuring industry
- C. returning government to normal
- D. increasing taxes
- A. raising the tax level
- B. sensible financial choices
- C. worse decisions about former slaves
- D. reconstruction of damaged areas
- A. To give attitude towards the South
- B. To illustrate the Northern love of music
- C. To emphasize the cultural differences between the North and the South
- D. To compare the Northern and Southern presidents
- A. Virginians felt betrayed by Jefferson Davis
- B. A popular song insulted Virginian
- C. Virginians were loyal to their leaders
- D. All of the Virginia military leaders had been put in chains
- A. charges
- B. leaders
- C. days
- D. irons
- A. raise money for the North
- B. repair the physical damage in the South
- C. prevent Northern leaders from punishing more Southerners
- D. help the nation recover from the war
