1. A gifted scientist, Newton _____ some of the most fundamental laws in the history of science.
  1. keeps discovering
  2. who discovered
  3. the discoverer of
  4. discovered
  1. In ____, the team has begun to show some form again and has won some big games.
  1. few weeks
  2. few past weeks
  3. the past few weeks
  4. a few week since
  1. ____, the outermost layer of skin, is about as thick as a sheet of paper over most of the skin.
  1. It is the epidermis
  2. In the epidermis
  3. The epidermis
  4. The epidermis is
  1. Marmots spend their time foraging among meadow plants and flowers or ____ on rocky cliffs.
  1. Gets sun
  2. Sunning
  3. The sun
  4. Sunny
  1. The greenhouse effect occurs _____ heat radiated from the Sun.
  1. When does the Earth’s atmosphere trap
  2. Does the Earth’s atmosphere trap
  3. When the Earth’s atmosphere traps
  4. The Earth’s atmosphere traps
  1. The police were greatly outnumbered by rioters, ______ran into the hundreds.
    A. whose figures
    B. those figures
    C. that its figures
    D. its figures that
  2. ____ is that a chicken stands up to lay its eggs.
  1. Because many people don’t realize
  2. Many people don’t realize
  3. What many people don’t realize
  4. It is that many people don’t realize
  1. Not until Edward Jenner developed the first anti-smallpox serum in 1796 ___ against this terrible disease.
  1. it was protected
  2. protection was
  3. protection was given
  4. was there protection
  1. Elephants scratch themselves with sticks ____.
  1. holding in their trunks
  2. in their trunks holding
  3. hold in their trunks
  4. held in their trunks.
  1. The tenants were asked to throw all recyclable trash into ______.
    A. the green big plastic bag
    B. the big plastic green bag
    C. the big green plastic bag
    D. the green plastic big bag

PASSAGE ONE (questions 1-2)

Most of the ice on the Earth, close to 90 percent of it, is covering the surface of the continent Antarctica. It does not snow very much in Antarctica, but whatever snow does fall remains and grows deeper and deeper. In some areas of Antarctica, the ice has perhaps been around for as much as a million years and now is more than two miles deep.

  1. The main idea of the passage is that
(A)The Earth is a cold planet
(B)Most of the Earth’s ice is found in Antarctica
(C)It snows more in Antarctica than in any other place on Earth
(D)Antarctica is only two miles wide but is 90 percent ice /
  1. The best title for the passage is
(A)Snowfall in Antarctica
(B)The Icy Earth
(C)The Cold, Cold Snow
(D)The Causes of Antarctica’s Ice Pack

PASSAGE TWO (questions 3-4)

In the first half of the nineteenth century, a New York newspaper, the New York Sun, successfully carried out a hoax on the American public. Because of this trick, readership of the paper rose substantially.

On August 25, 1835, the Sun published reports that some wonderful new discoveries had been made on the moon. The article described strange, never-before-seen animals and temples covered in shining jewels. Many members of the American public were fooled by the story, even some prominent members of the scientific community.

The effect of the false story on sales of the paper was dramatic. Paper sales increased considerably as people eagerly searched out details of the new discoveries. Later, the newspaper company announced that it had not been trying to trick the public; instead, the company explained the moon stories as a type of literary satire.

3Which of the following best states the topic of the passage?
(A)A nineteenth-century discovery on the moon
(B)The New York Sun
(C)A hoax and its effect
(D)The success of a newspaper /
  1. The main point of the passage is that
(A)the New York Sun was one of the earliest American Newspapers
(B)the Sun increased sales when it tricked the public with a false story
(C)a newspaper achieved success by writing about the moon
(D)in 1835 some amazing new discoveries were made about the moon

PASSAGE THREE (questions 1-2)

Many parts of the Southwestern United States would become deserts again without the waters of the Colorado River. A system of thousands of miles of canals, hundreds of miles of tunnels and aqueducts, and numerous dams and reservoirs bring Colorado River water to the area. The Imperial Valley in Southern California is an example of such a place; it is a vast and productive agricultural area that was once a desert. Today, 2,000 miles of canals irrigate the fertile land and keep it productive.

  1. Which of the following is mentioned in the passage as a way that Colorado River water gets to the Southwest?
(A)By truck
(B)In bottles
(C)In wells
(D)Through canals /
  1. According to the passage, the Imperial Valley
(A)is a desert today
(B)is located in Colorado
(C)produces a lot of agricultural goods
(D)does not require irrigation

PASSAGE FOUR (questions 3-7)

The plane with the largest wingspan ever built was nicknamed the Spruce Goose. The wingspan of the Spruce Goose was 320 feet (almost 100 meters), and the plane weighed 200 tons. It was so big that it needed eight engines to power it.

The plane was designed by Howard Hughes in response to a U.S. government request for a plane that was able to carry a large cargo for the war effort. It was made of wood because wood is a less critical material in wartime than metal.

The plane was so difficult to build that it never really got used. It was flown one time only, by Hughes himself, on November 2, 1947; during that flight it traveled a distance of less than one mile over the Los AngelesHarbor, but it did fly. Today, the Spruce Goose is on exhibit for the public to see in Long Beach, California.

  1. Which of the following is true about the Spruce Goose?
(A)Each of its wings measures 100 meters.
(B)It weighs 200 pounds.
(C)It has eight wings to help it to fly.
(D)It has a wingspan larger than the wingspan of any other plane.
  1. The passage indicates that the plane was designed
(A)as a cargo plane
(B)as a racing plane
(C)to carry wood
(D)for exhibition
  1. According to the passage, the Spruce Goose is constructed from
(A)wood
(B)lightweight metal
(C)plastic
(D)steel / 6According to the passage, when the Spruce Goose flew,
(A)it went only a short distance
(B)it fell into the Los AngelesHarbor
(C)it flew 100 miles
(D)it carried a large cargo
7The passage indicates that the Spruce Goose today
(A)flies regularly for the U.S. government
(B)is in the Los AngelesHarbor
(C)is in storage
(D)can be seen by the public

PASSAGE FIVE (question 1-2)

In the 1960s, as space travel was becoming a subject of much discussion, Pan American Airlines began receiving some fairly unusual requests for flight information. People began making requests to be on the first flight that Pan Am made to the Moon.

On a whim, Pan Am started a waiting list for the first flight to the Moon. Similar requests have come to Pan Am over the years, and Pan Am has responded by adding the names of the requesters to the list.

Unfortunately for Pan Am, the original company is no longer in business, and it never got to the Moon. However, when it went out of business, it had a waiting list of more than 90,000 names for its first lunar flight.

  1. All of the following are mentioned about Pan American Airlines, EXCEPT that
(A)it started business in the 1960s
(B)it received requests for its first flight to the Moon
(C)it kept some people on a long waiting list
(D)it went out of business /
  1. Which of the following is NOT true about Pan Am’s Moon flight?
(A)People asked Pan Am about its flights to the Moon.
(B)Pan Am kept a waiting list for its Moon flights.
(C)Pan Am never really made any Moon flights.
(D)Pan Am’s waiting list had only a few names on it.

PASSAGE SIX (questions 3-6)

The tunnel trees in Yosemite Valley are an amazing attraction to people who visit there. The tunnel trees are huge trees, giant redwoods, which have had tunnels carved in them, and cars can actually drive through some of the trees. The fact that the trees are large enough to have cars drive through them should give you some indication of just how big the trees are.

There are currently two existing tunnel trees in Yosemite Valley. One of them is called the “Dead Giant.” This is just the stump, or bottom part, of a much larger tree. The hole was cut through the base of the tree in 1878, and stagecoaches used to drive through it. Today the Dead Giant still exists, but the stagecoaches do not. Passenger cars can and do drive through the 10-foot-wide opening in the tree stump.

The other existing tunnel tree is the 230-foot high California Tree, which had a hole carved through it in 1895. This tree is no longer open to the public, so it is not possible to take a car through it.

Unfortunately, a third tunnel tree no longer exists. The Wawona Tunnel Tree was a 2,100-year-old tree which was carved in 1881. A terrible snowstorm in 1969 caused this ancient giant of a tree to fall.

3. Which of the following is NOT true about the tunnel trees in Yosemite Valley?
(A)They are trees with holes cut in them.
(B)They are giant redwoods.
(C)Three tunnel trees currently exist.
(D)Cars have driven through some of them.
5. Which of the following is NOT true about the California Tree?
(A)Its tunnel still exists.
(B)Its tunnel is 230 feet high.
(C)Its tunnel was cut in 1895.
(D)Cars are not allowed to go through it. / 4. All of the following are stated about the Dead Giant, EXCEPT that
(A)it is still a tunnel tree today
(B)it is just the stump of a tree
(C)it was cut less than a century ago
(D)it has a 10-foot opening
6. All of the following are true about the Wawona Tunnel Tree, EXCEPT that
(A)it does not exist anymore
(B)the tree lived for more than 2,000 years
(C)the tunnel tree was destroyed in a snowstorm
(D)the tunnel was destroyed in 1881