Reading Comprehension — Practice

Question 1

Passage: "For centuries, a handwritten letter carried weight precisely because of the time it cost to produce — a writer had to choose words knowing that crossing them out untidily would be visible on the page, and a reader understood that days, sometimes weeks, separated the writing from the reading. Instant messaging has not simply replaced letters; it has changed what correspondence is for. A text message is expected to be read and answered within minutes, which rewards brevity and immediacy over the deliberation a letter demanded. Some historians argue that something genuinely valuable has been lost in this shift — not merely the paper artifact, but the slower, more considered mode of thought that composing a letter once required. Others counter that instant messaging has simply multiplied the sheer volume of everyday contact between people, at a cost the earlier form could never have sustained."

What is the central claim of the passage?

Accepted Answer

C

Question 2

Passage: (as above, on handwritten letters versus instant messaging.)

According to the passage, what does instant messaging reward compared to a handwritten letter?

Accepted Answer

A

Question 3

Passage: (as above, on handwritten letters versus instant messaging.)

It can be inferred from the passage that a key reason letters demanded deliberation was

Accepted Answer

D

Question 4

Passage: (as above, on handwritten letters versus instant messaging.)

In the passage, the phrase "a cost the earlier form could never have sustained" most nearly refers to

Accepted Answer

B

Question 5

Passage: "Cities are measurably warmer than the rural areas surrounding them, an effect known as the urban heat island. Concrete, asphalt, and dark rooftops absorb solar radiation during the day and release it slowly after sunset, while the very density that defines a city reduces the vegetation that would otherwise provide shade and release cooling moisture through transpiration. One proposed remedy, the green roof — a rooftop partially or fully covered with vegetation rather than bare membrane — addresses both causes at once: the plant layer reflects and absorbs less heat than dark roofing material, and the soil and plants underneath release moisture that cools the surrounding air. Critics note that green roofs are considerably more expensive to install and maintain than conventional ones, and that their cooling effect, while real, is strongest at the scale of an individual building rather than an entire city block."

What is the central claim of the passage?

Accepted Answer

D

Question 6

Passage: (as above, on urban heat islands and green roofs.)

According to the passage, what two features allow a green roof to reduce heat compared to a conventional roof?

Accepted Answer

B

Question 7

Passage: (as above, on urban heat islands and green roofs.)

It can be inferred from the passage that the primary limitation of green roofs, according to their critics, is

Accepted Answer

A

Question 8

Passage: (as above, on urban heat islands and green roofs.)

In context, "transpiration" as used in the passage most nearly refers to

Accepted Answer

C

Question 9

Passage: "Academic journals have traditionally operated on a subscription model: a university library pays for access, and researchers elsewhere without an institutional subscription are simply locked out of reading the published findings, even when that research was funded by public money. The open-access movement proposes the opposite arrangement — the finished article is freely available to any reader, with costs instead covered upfront, often through a fee paid by the author's institution or funding body. Supporters argue this arrangement is more equitable, particularly for researchers and institutions in lower-income countries who could never otherwise afford subscription access. Critics counter that shifting costs onto authors risks disadvantaging exactly the same under-resourced researchers the movement claims to help, and that some publishers have used the open-access label to launch journals with minimal peer review, chasing author fees rather than research quality."

What is the central claim of the passage?

Accepted Answer

A

Question 10

Passage: (as above, on open-access academic publishing.)

According to the passage, under the traditional subscription model, who is typically locked out of reading published findings?

Accepted Answer

C

Question 11

Passage: (as above, on open-access academic publishing.)

It can be inferred from the passage that the critics' concern about author-fee-funded open access is that

Accepted Answer

B

Question 12

Passage: (as above, on open-access academic publishing.)

In the passage, "equitable" most nearly means

Accepted Answer

D

Practice — Reading Comprehension

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