READING B1

Questions 1-9

Calvin Coolidge was President of the United States during the triumphant reign of prosperity that made
the twenties “golden,” and this prosperity had very real roots. Although there had been a brief but sharp
postwar depression in 1920 and 1921, American industry made a quick recovery. Largely responsible for the
industrial boom that followed was the introduction of new products into American life. For example, on the
eve of the First World War, only half a million automobiles were being produced annually, but during the
twenties production reached nearly five million units per year. Furthermore, the new auto industry created
demands on older industries for products such as rubber, copper, glass, steel, and fabrics. It called for the
building of paved roads across the nation and brought about the tremendous expansion of the oil and gasoline
refining industries, along with the construction of thousands of gasoline stations, which broke out like a rash
of measles over the countryside. Basic industries expanded as well – coal, steel, machine tools, clothing, and,
most dramatically of all, the new electric power industry.

For the first time, average citizens were buying cars, radios (another new and booming industry),
refrigerators, and a host of other new consumer products. The poor seemed to be getting richer, and certainly
the rich were getting richer. For the well-to-do, the business civilization of the twenties seemed to promise all
that could be expected “this side of paradise,” as F. Scott Fitzgerald titled one of his most popular novels. But
paradise in the twenties had two sides. On the far side of paradise during the golden decade lived the majority
of American farmers.

1. According to the passage, when did the United States experience a brief depression?

(A) In the late nineteenth century

(B) Before the First World War

(C) During the First World War

(D) In the early 1920’s

2. The word “boom” in line 5 is closest in meaning to

(A) noise

(B) strike

(C) expansion

(D) market
3. The phrase “called for” in line 10 is closest in meaning to

(A) named

(B) required

(C) described
(D) considered
4. According to the passage, the growth in automobile production caused an increase in the
demand for

(A) rubber

(B) mass produced clothing

(C) electric power

(D) radios
5. According to the passage, all of the following were relatively new in the 1920’s EXCEPT

(A) steel

(B) radios

(C) automobiles

(D) refrigerators
6. The word “host” in line 17 is closest in meaning to

(A) entertainer

(B) representative sample

(C) business investment

(D) large number

7. It can be inferred from the passage that the characters in the novel This Side of Paradise are

(A) wealthy people

(B) industrious farmers

(C) creative writers

(D) average citizens

8. What can be inferred from the passage about farms in the United States in the 1920’s?

(A) They experienced very rapid economic growth.

(B) They attracted workers from urban industrial centers.

(C) They benefited from a reduction in the price of gasoline.

(D) They were less prosperous than other businesses.

9. The paragraph following the passage most likely discusses
(A) the life of F. Scott Fitzgerald

(B) the cost of consumer goods

(C) the economic condition of farms

(D) popular novels of the 1920’s

t World War, there grew up a considerable industry devoted to it: the popular
music business, a huge trade in instructional schools and mail order lessons, and,
of course, the selling of pianos themselves.

Inevitably a large corps of virtuoso professional piano players developed.

These “professors” or “ivory ticklers” were not necessarily trained in the
classical European tradition. Most, although not all, either were self-taught or
studied with older ticklers who themselves had little experience with the
classical tradition. Despite the lack of European-style training, many of these
players possessed astonishing techniques that, if not well-suited to classical
piano compositions, were exactly right for producing the showy effects with
which these professors impressed audiences and competing pianists. Fast
arpeggios, octave runs, and other great splashes up and down the keyboard were
practiced endlessly.

These ticklers were the people who developed and popularized ragtime; it is
no accident that the most popular music of the period was a piano form. And of
course, when jazz came into fashion, they were caught up in this new music.

10. What does the passage mainly discuss?

(A) The parts of a piano

(B) Kinds of pianos

(C) Composers of piano music

(D) The popularity of the piano

11. The word “place” in line 1 is closest in meaning to

(A) performance

(B) region

(C) position

(D) arrangement
12. The word “it” in line 2 refers to

(A) piano

(B) place

(C) music

(D) band
13. The word “central” in line 14 is closest in meaning to

(A) accessible

(B) important

(C) convenient

(D) related
14. Which of the following can be inferred from the passage about the piano industry between
1861 and 1914?

(A) Fewer pianos were built.

(B) Many people wanted to learn how to play the piano.

(C) Other forms of keyboard instruments were invented.

(D) Large bands began to replace pianos in clubs and restaurants.

15. The word “virtuoso” in line 19 is closest in meaning to

(A) youthful

(B) dedicated

(C) skilled

(D) noble
16. The word “themselves” in line 22 refers to
(A) pianos

(B) compositions

(C) older ticklers

(D) techniques
17. According to the passage, why were audiences amazed by the piano-playing of the ticklers
mentioned in the third paragraph?

(A) They played without looking at music.

(B) Their performances were very exciting.

(C) They were younger than most pianists.

(D) They were accompanied by variety of other instruments.

18. Which of the following is NOT true of the professional piano players mentioned in the
fourth paragraph?

(A) They were trained in Europe.

(B) Their piano performances appealed to audience.

(C) They usually received little formal training.

(D) They were more skilled at playing popular music than classical music.
19. The paragraph following the passage most probably discusses

(A) classical piano music

(B) piano competitions

(C) piano instruction

(D) jazz piano music

Questions 20-29

Virtually every epoch of human civilization includes references to flight.

From ancient winged deities to a score of myths, themes of flight occur
repeatedly. There were undoubtedly sporadic attempts to achieve human flight,
probably in imitation of birds. The first credible mention of such efforts
appeared in a book written in 1250, which referred to an ornithopter, a winged
machine strapped to a person’s arms. Based on the flapping motion of a bird’s
wings, an ornithopter would require a good deal of muscular energy from the
arms of its human operator. Since this was not a practical source of mechanical
power, it could not fly.

With the age-old problem of suitable power sources impeding early

experiments, the first person to leave the surface of the Earth did so in the
eighteenth century in a balloon. The first balloons were buoyed into and kept up
in the air with air itself – hot air. The Montgolfier brothers had observed that
warm air rose, and reasoned that if they could capture it in a lightweight bag, the
bag would rise along with anything attached to it. They experimented with
several small linen bags lined with paper to help retain the hot air. The first free
flight in a balloon was made in 1783, a 25-minute journey totaling 8 kilometers.

Practical heavier-than-air flight evolved from fixed-wing aircraft in the form

of gliders, which are motorless aircraft that are launched from high places.
Gliding itself dated from the year 1000, when a Benedictine monk reportedly
launched himself from a tower and flew more than 400 meters. However,
structural and stability problems seemed to frustrate gliding enthusiasts until the
early nineteenth century. With the addition of propellers and engines in the early
twentieth century, airplanes at last became a reality.

20. What does the passage mainly discuss?

(A) Early drawings of flying machines

(B) The history of flight

(C) The various problems with ornithopters

(D) References to flight in ancient myths

21. The word “sporadic” in line 3 is closest in meaning to

(A) scientific

(B) successful

(C) occasional

(D) courageous
22. According to the passage, what was the problem with the ornithopter?

(A) It was poorly constructed.

(B) It could only hold one person.

(C) It had to be launched from a high place.

(D) It required more strength than a human could provide.

23. The word “it” in line 8 refers to

(A) source

(B) motion

(C) ornithopter

(D) power
24. The word “buoyed” in line 11 is closest in meaning to

(A) collapsed

(B) designed

(C) attempted

(D) raised
25. The word “it” in line 13 refers to

(A) balloon

(B) warm air

(C) lightweight bag

(D) paper
26. What can be inferred about gliders that were made before the nineteenth century?

(A) They could not be easily transported.

(B) They relied on hot air to lift them off of the ground.

(C) They were not well designed.

(D) They remained airborne for long periods of time.

27. Which of the following statements is supported by the passage?

(A) Humans have always had a fascination with flying.

(B) The success of human flight depended on imitating flight of birds.

(C) The evolution of flight has been a steady, consistent process.

(D) Flying enthusiasts still prefer gliders to balloons.

28. Where in the passage does the author mention an historical account of early attempts at
flight?

(A) Lines 4-6

(B) Lines 9-11

(C) Lines 17-18

(D) Lines 22-23

29. The passage probably continues with a discussion of

(A) the dangers of ballooning

(B) the development of airplanes

(C) similarities between early and modern gliders

(D) attempts to improve the ornithopter

Questions 20-29

The Comstock Lode in Nevada was the scene of one of the biggest silver
mining booms in the history of the opening up of the North American West. It
was discovered in 1859, but productivity did not reach its peak until the 1870’s
when many large silver deposits were discovered. A large number of mines are
scattered along the five-kilometer length of the lode, which is basically a
mineralized fault zone, separating geologically young andesite and dacite lavas
from older rocks. The lode forms a flattish sheet, inclined at about 40 degrees to
the horizontal, and reaches a maximum thickness of 120 meters and a depth of
1,000 meters, although most of the richest ore was found well above this level.

As in so many of the world’s mines, the mining operations on the Comstock

Lode were severely hampered by water flooding into the workings. At
Comstock, though, the problems were particularly acute, since the water was
extremely hot, reaching 64 degrees Celsius in some places. Geologically, the
presence of such large volumes of hot water was immensely significant, since it
implied that beneath the Comstock Lode there was still a large mass of hot
igneous rock that might be producing more mineralization. For a long while this
near-scalding water made it impossible to mine much below the 1,000-meter
level, and many miners were killed by it, either directly by falling into the water
or indirectly through the effects of overexertion in the very high temperatures of
the mine galleries. No fewer than 53 miners died in one period of 22 months
ending in May 1877.To combat this it was decided to dig a six-kilometer-long
tunnel to drain and ventilate the upper parts of the mine workings. This tunnel,
which became known as the Sutro Tunnel, took many years of extremely hard
work to complete, and the succession of physical obstacles and financial crises
that were successfully overcome in its construction have become legendary,
comparable in some ways with the heroic engineering involved in the laying of
the first transcontinental railway across the United States.
30. The word “It” in line 2 refers to

(A) Comstock Lode

(B) history

(C) productivity

(D) peak
31. The word “scattered” in line 4 is closest in meaning to

(A) combined

(B) spread out

(C) easily identified

(D) preserved
32. Where in the passage does the author describe a lode?

(A) Lines 4-6

(B) Lines 10-11

(C) Lines 13-16

(D) Lines 21-22

33. What is the main idea of the second paragraph?

(A) The Comstock Lode mines were the most successful in North American history.

(B) The Comstock Lode mines had severe problems affecting their operation.

(C) The transcontinental railroad made mines profitable.

(D) Thousands of workers were employed in the Comstock Lode mines.

34. The word “hampered” in line 11 is closest in meaning to

(A) overwhelmed

(B) deepened

(C) prolonged

(D) disrupted
35. The word “acute” in line 12 is closest in meaning to

(A) fiery

(B) unsolvable
 (C) serious

(D) sensitive
36. According to the passage, what can be signaled by the presence of hot igneous rock?

(A) Flooding

(B) Uneven deposits of ore

(C) Low water levels

(D) Continuing mineralization

37. What was the purpose of the Sutro Tunnel?

(A) To relieve flooding and bring air into the mine

(B) To get miners to the Comstock Lode quickly

(C) To pump the hot water out of the mine and bring cold water in to cool it

(D) To transport ore to the surface

38. The word “obstacles” in line 24 is closest in meaning to

(A) injuries

(B) objects

(C) qualifications

(D) difficulties
39. The author compares the construction of the Sutro Tunnel to the first transcontinental
railroad in North America because both projects

(A) were accomplished quickly

(B) employed young workers

(C) were challenging to complete

(D) lost money

Questions 20-29

Woodpeckers also use their powerful beaks to excavate nest holes in tree
trunks, drilling first of all a neat horizontal hole, then chiseling downward for a
foot or so and there cutting out a chamber. They frequently choose dead trees, no
doubt because the rotting wood is softer to work than that of living trees. Such
trees also are usually infected by bark beetles, which provide a rich food supply
conveniently near at hand.

The drumming noise made by the rapid blows of a woodpecker’s beak on a

tree trunk is one of the most characteristic sounds of the forest. The birds do not
produce it solely when they are feeding or excavating a nest. They beat tattoos
on echoing timber for the same reason that other birds sing, to declare possession
of a territory and to attract a mate. Each species has its own length of drumroll
with its own characteristic interval between one burst and the next.

Different species of the woodpecker family specialize in different foods. The

green woodpecker, as well as taking bark-boring beetles, often descends to the
ground to forage for ants. The wryneck is even more dependent upon ants. It is
not primarily a climber at all and lacks the stiff propping tail of other
woodpeckers, but it does have the usual long sticky tongue, which it flicks into a
nest of ants to bring out 150 of them at a time. The acorn woodpecker exploits
its wood-boring skills by drilling neat holes in tree trunks, the diameter of which
exactly accommodates acorns. It will cover a favored tree with several hundred
such holes and store several acorns in each of them, so accumulating a massive
larder for the winter. An even more specialized group within the family, the
sapsuckers, bore holes in tree trunks for a quite different purpose. They choose
living trees of species that produce liberal flows of sap and drill numerous small,
squarish holes in them. The liquid that trickles out attracts insects that the
sapsucker collects and then mixes with the sap to produce a little sweetmeat.

40. What does the passage mainly discuss?

(A) The sounds made by different species of birds

(B) The characteristics of one kind of bird

(C) The importance of insects as a food source for birds

(D) The damage done to trees by one species of birds

41. The word “excavate” in line 1 is closest in meaning to

(A) dig

(B) protect

(C) clean

(D) investigate
42. The word “that” in line 4 refers to

(A) hole

(B) chamber

(C) wood
(D) supply
43. It can be inferred from the passage that the different species of woodpeckers can be
identified by the

(A) melody of their song

(B) design of their nest

(C) pattern of the drumming noise they make

(D) size of their beak

44. The word “interval” in line 12 is closest in meaning to

(A) note

(B) pause

(C) call

(D) tapping
45. The words “as well as” in line 14 are closest in meaning to

(A) besides

(B) easily

(C) after

(D) instead of
46. According to the passage, the wryneck differs from other woodpeckers in that it does NOT

(A) have a long tongue

(B) make any noise

(C) build its own nest

(D) have a rigid tail

47. The word “which” in line 19 refers to

(A) acorns

(B) holes

(C) tree trunks

(D) skills
48. The word “massive” in line 21 is closest in meaning to
(A) secret

(B) potential

(C) huge

(D) fresh
49. Which of the following is NOT mentioned as a species of woodpecker that eats insects?

(A) The sapsucker

(B) The green woodpecker

(C) The wryneck

(D) The acorn woodpecker

50. The sapsucker’s behavior is different from the behavior of other species in which of the
following ways?

(A) It searches for insects on the ground instead of in trees.

(B) It does not drill holes in trees.

(C) It is the only species that stores food for the winter months.

(D) It chooses trees that produce large quantities of sap.