PASSAGE 3 – Questions 21-30
While many nineteenth-century reformers hoped to bring about reform through education or by eliminating specific social evils, some thinkers wanted to start over and remake society by founding ideal, cooperative communities. The United States seemed to them a spacious and unencumbered country where models of a perfect society could succeed. These communitarian thinkers hoped their success would lead to imitation, until communities free of crime, poverty, and other social ills would cover the land. A number of religious groups, notably the Shakers, practiced communal living, but the main impetus to found model communities came from nonreligious, rationalistic thinkers.
Among the communitarian philosophers, three of the most influential were Robert Owen, Charles Fourier, and John Humprey Noyes Owen, famous for his humanitarian policies as owner of several thriving_textile mills in Scotland, believed that faulty environment was to blame for human problems and that these problems could be eliminated in a rationally planned society. In 1825, he put his principles into practice at New Harmony, Indiana. The community failed economically after a few years but not before achieving a number of social successes. Fourier, a commercial employee in France, never visited the United States. However, his theories of cooperative living influenced many Americans through the writings of Albert Brisbane, whose Social Destiny of Man explained Fourier-ism and its self-sufficient association or “phalanxes”. One or more of these phalanxes was organized in every Northern state. The most famous were Red Bank, New Jersey, and Brook farm, Massachusetts. An early member of the latter was the author Nathaniel Hawthorne. Noyes founded the most enduring and probably the oddest of the utopian communities, the Oneida Community of upstate New York. Needless to say, none of these experiments had any lasting effects on the patterns of American society.
The main topic of the passage is ________.
- A. nineteenth-century schools
- B. model communities in the nineteenth century
- C. the philosophy of Fourier-ism
- D. American reformers
- A. To establish ideal communities
- B. To spread their ideas throughout the United States.
- C. To create opportunities through education
- D. To remake society
- A. an influential group of writers
- B. radical reformers
- C. rationalistic thinkers
- D. a communal religious group
- A. Stimulus
- B. Commitment
- C. Drawback
- D. Foundation
- A. famous
- B. prosperous
- C. failing
- D. pioneering
- A. Albert Brisbane
- B. Robert Owen
- C. Charles Fourier
- D. John Humphrey Noyes
- A. He founded Brook farm in Massachusetts
- B. He was a critic of Charles Fourier
- C. He was at one time a member of the Brook farm community
- D. he wrote a book that led to the establishment of model communities
- A. New Harmony
- B. Brook Farm
- C. Red Bank
- D. The Oneida community
- A. obvious
- B. surprising
- C. absurd
- D. practical
- A. To compare nineteenth-century reforms with twentieth-century reforms
- B. To contrast the work of Utopian thinkers with that of practical reformers
- C. To present an overview of a concept in the first paragraph and specific examples in the second
- D. To give the causes for a phenomenon in the first paragraph and its consequences in the second
PASSAGE 4 – Questions 31-40
Lighthouses are towers with strong lights that help mariners plot their positions, inform them that land is near, and warn them of dangerous rocks and reefs. They are placed at prominent points on the coast and on island, reefs, and sandbars.
Every lighthouse has a distinctive pattern of light known as its characteristic. There are five basic characteristics: fixed, flashing, occulting, group flashing, and group occulting. A fixed signal is a steady beam. A flashing signal had periods of darkness longer than periods of light, while an occulting signal's periods of light are longer. A group-lasting light gives off two or more flashes at regular intervals, and group-occulting signal consists of a fixed light with two or more periods of darkness at regular intervals. Some lighthouses use lights of different colors as well, and today, most light-houses are also equipped with radio beacons. The three types of apparatus used to produce the signals are catoptric, in which metal is used to reflect the light; the dioptric, in which glass is used; and the catadioptric, in which both glass and metal are used.
In the daytime, lighthouses can usually be identified by their structure alone. The most typical structure is a tower tapering at the top, but some, such as the Bastion Lighthouse on the saint Lawrence River, are shaped like Pyramids, and others, such as the Race Rock Light, look like wooden houses sitting on high platforms. Still others, such as the American Shoal Lighthouse off the Florida Coast, are skeletal towers of steel. Where lighthouses might be confused in daylight, they can be distinguished by day-maker patterns- designs of checks and stripes painted in vivid colors on lighthouse walls.
In the past, the job of lighthouse keeper was lonely and difficult, if somewhat romantic. Lighthouse keepers put in hours of tedious work maintaining the lights. Today, lighthouses are almost entirely automated with human supplying only occasional maintenance. Because of improvements in navigational technology, the importance of lighthouses has diminished. There are only about 340 functioning lighthouses in existence in the United States today, compared to about 1,500 in 1900, and there are only about 1,400 functioning lighthouses outsides the United States. Some decommissioned lighthouses have been preserved as historical monuments.
Which of the following is NOT mentioned in the passage as one of the functions of lighthouses?
- A. To help sailors determine their location
- B. To warn of danger from rocks and reefs
- C. To indicate that land is near
- D. To notify sailors that bad weather is approaching
- A. mariners'
- B. lighthouses'
- C. dangers'
- D. lights'
- A. period of darkness
- B. distinctive light signal
- C. pattern painted on a lighthouse
- D. someone who operates a lighthouse
- A. group flashing
- B. flashing
- C. occulting
- D. group occulting
- A. metal
- B. lights of various colors
- C. glass
- D. a radio beacon
- A. a lighthouse with day-marker patterns
- B. a lighthouse made of steel
- C. a lighthouse shaped like a pyramid
- D. a lighthouse that resembles a house on a platform
- A. soaring
- B. narrowing
- C. opening
- D. rotating
- A. the weather is frequently bad
- B. the structures themselves can not be easily seen by passing mariners
- C. there are a number of lighthouses with similar structures
- D. there are not many lighthouses
- A. employ more powerful lights
- B. are more romantic
- C. are more difficult to operate
- D. require less maintenance
- A. There are more lighthouses in the United States now than there were in 1900
- B. There were more lighthouses in the United States in 1900 than there are elsewhere in the world today
- C. There are more functioning light-houses in the United States today than there are lighthouses preserved as historical monuments
- D. There are more lighthouses in the United States today than in any other single country
