1.1 A

Questions 1-3
.. 1 … The cells of a plant are organized into three tissue systems: dermal, vascular, and ground tissue. Each tissue system is continuous throughout the plant’s body. The specific characteristics of each tissue, however, are different in the different organs of the plant.


.. 2 … The dermal tissue system is the “skin” of the plant. The dermal system, or epidermis, is a single layer of cells covering the entire body of the plant. The main function of the epidermis is to protect the plant. The epidermis also has specialized characteristics for the particular organs it covers. For example, the epidermis of leaves and stems has a waxy coating that helps the plant conserve water, and the epidermal cells near the tips of the plant’s roots help the plant absorb water and nutrients from the soil.

.. 3 … The second tissue system—the vascular system—is the transportation system for water and nutrients. Vascular tissue also helps to support the plant’s structure. The third system—the ground tissue—makes up the bulk of a plant, filling all of the spaces between the dermal and vascular tissue systems. Ground tissue functions in photosynthesis, storage, and support.


Questions 4-6
.. 1 … By the decades just before the Civil War of the 1860s, the Southern states had developed an economic culture distinct from that of the North. The economy of the South depended largely on two things: cotton and slave labor. Because of the rising demand for cotton from the mills of England, and the invention of the cotton gin in 1793, the cotton production of the South increased tremendously. In 1790, cotton output had been 9,000 bales a year, but by the 1850s, output had soared to five million bales. In the South, cotton was “king.” The most readily available source of labor was the institution of slavery. Thus, cotton and slavery became interdependent, and the South grew more reliant on both.

.. 2 … This was in sharp contrast to the North, where farming was becoming more mechanized and diversified. Northern farmers would boast of improvements in the form of new roads, railways, and machinery, and of the production of a variety of crops. In the South, however, farmers bought laborers instead of equipment, and a man’s social status depended on the number of slaves he owned. The economic differences between the two regions would ultimately lead to armed conflict and the social restructuring of the South.

Questions 7-10
.. 1 … Play is common to the young of most mammals. Some birds play, but it is rare in cold–blooded animals such as fish and reptiles. Why some animals play, and others do not, is not entirely understood, but the most playful—such as dolphins and monkeys—are also the most intelligent and sociable. Play may seem something of a puzzle. Not only is it apparently unproductive, but it also places the participant at risk of being surprised by predators. However, there must be a good reason for play. The most widely held scientific explanation is that play allows the social behaviors of the species to be explored and learned. Other benefits include physical exercise and the learning of survival skills such as hunting. A kitten that grows up separated from other kittens becomes both a social misfit and a poor hunter, largely because it is deprived of play.


.. 2 … Kittens start playing when they are about three weeks old. Early play consists of mock attacks with the mother and litter mates, clearly previewing the territorial behavior of adult life. As the kittens grow older, more elaborate play patterns develop. At four weeks they can wrestle. The sideways leap and the pounce may be learned by the fifth week. By six weeks they can chase and leap on each other with reasonable accuracy. Kittens stalk, chase, and fall over each other. They recognize these patterns as being playful, even though the same signals in adult life may have a more serious meaning.


1.1 B

Questions 1-3
.. 1 … Erik Erikson believed that personality development is a series of turning points, which he described in terms of the tension between desirable qualities and dangers. He emphasized that only when the positive qualities outweigh the dangers does healthy psychosocial development take place.


.. 2 … An important turning point occurs around age six. A child entering school is at a point in development when behavior is dominated by intellectual curiosity and performance. He or she now learns to win recognition by producing things. The child develops a sense of industry. The danger at this stage is that the child may experience feelings of inadequacy or inferiority. If the child is encouraged to make and do things, allowed to finish tasks, and praised for trying, a sense of industry is the result. On the other hand, if the child’s efforts are unsuccessful, or if they are criticized or treated as bothersome, a sense of inferiority is the result. For these reasons, Erikson called the period from age six to eleven Industry vs. Inferiority.


Questions 4-6
.. 1 … In the storytelling traditions of West Africa, the tiny rabbit appears frequently as a rascal who teases or plays jokes on bigger animals. In one story, Mr. Rabbit tricks Mr. Elephant and Mrs. Whale into a tug of war with each other. Such tales about Mr. Rabbit continue to be part of the oral traditions of the Wollof people of Senegal.

.. 2 … The African–American folktales of the U.S. South also feature a trickster rabbit in the character of Brer Rabbit. In his American incarnation, Brer Rabbit uses his wits to overcome circumstances and even to enact playful revenge on his larger, stronger adversaries, Brer Fox, Brer Wolf, and Brer Bear. Although he is not always successful, Brer Rabbit’s efforts make him both a folk hero and a friendly comic figure. Joel Chandler Harris, a journalist in Georgia, had heard old men tell Brer Rabbit tales by the fireside when he was a young boy. Harris wrote down and published many of the stories, popularizing them for the general public.

.. 3 … A folklorist named Alcée Fortier recorded very similar versions of the same stories in southern Louisiana, where the rabbit character was known as Compair Lapin in Creole French. More recently, the rabbit has enjoyed another incarnation as the cartoon character Bugs Bunny—a rascally rabbit who causes trouble, tricks the hunter, and always gets the final word.


Questions 7-10
.. 1 … A hot spot is a giant underground caldron of molten rock in one of the world’s many volcanically active areas. The steamy geysers, thermal pools, and mud pots of Yellowstone National Park owe their origins to hot spots.

.. 2 … Annually, more than 200 geysers erupt in Yellowstone, making this one of the most interesting places in the world for geologists. Over 100 geysers lie within the Upper Geyser Basin, a one–square–mile area near Old Faithful, the most famous geyser in the world. The Yellowstone hot spot was created around ten million years ago, and the center of the park is still volcanically active, with molten rock only a mile or two beneath the Earth’s surface.

.. 3 … When rain and melted snow seep down through tiny cracks in the Earth, the water eventually reaches underground chambers of lava–heated rock. The rock heats the water, and the boiling water and steam often make their way back up to the surface in the form of a geyser, a thermal pool, or a mud pot.

.. 4 … In a geyser, water trapped in an underground chamber heats up beyond the boiling point and forms steam. Since steam takes up 1,500 times more space than water, pressure builds up, eventually forcing the super heated water to burst to the surface as a geyser. A thermal pool is formed when the water from the hot spot reaches the surface before cooling off. If the water does not make it all the way to the surface, steam and gases may dissolve rocks and form a bubbling mud pot instead.


1.1 C

Questions 1-3

.. 1 … Most matter exists as compounds—combinations of atoms or oppositely charged ions of two or more different elements held together in fixed proportions by chemical bonds. Compounds are classified as organic or inorganic. Organic compounds contain atoms of the element carbon, usually combined with itself and with atoms of one or more other elements such as hydrogen, oxygen, nitrogen, sulfur, phosphorus, and chlorine. Many materials important to us—food, vitamins, blood, skin, cotton, wool, paper, oil, plastics—are organic compounds.

.. 2 … Larger and more complex organic compounds, called polymers, consist of a number of basic structural units linked together by chemical bonds. Important organic polymers include carbohydrates, proteins, and nucleic acids. Carbohydrates, such as the complex starches in rice and potato plants, are composed of a number of simple sugar molecules. Proteins are produced in plant and animal cells by the linking of different numbers and sequences of about twenty different structural units known as amino acids. Most animals, including humans, can manufacture about ten of these amino acids in their cells, but the other ten, called essential amino acids, must be obtained from food in order to prevent protein deficiency. Nucleic acids are composed of hundreds to thousands of four different units called nucleotides linked together in different numbers and sequences. DNA and RNA in plant and animal cells are nucleic acids.


Questions 4-6
.. 1 … By the 1840s, British North America had developed a vibrant commercial economy based on its abundant natural resources and a growing international trade. Fish, furs, timber, and grains represented over 90 percent of all economic activity. The oldest of the resource commodities, fish, was traditionally associated with Newfoundland and continued to dominate that colony’s economy throughout the nineteenth century. The other traditional resource, fur, had a much smaller economic value compared to other resources. However, the fur trade was of tremendous value politically because it provided the means for Great Britain to retain its claim over much of Canada, and also formed the basis of the relationship between the British and the aboriginal peoples.

.. 2 … Timber and grain eventually replaced fish and fur in economic importance. Every province of British North America except Newfoundland was involved in the timber trade. In New Brunswick, the timber industry controlled every aspect of life, and settlement was closely connected to the opening of new timber territory. In the extensive agricultural lands of the St. Lawrence Valley and Upper Canada, wheat quickly became the dominant crop. Wheat met a growing demand abroad and it transported well as either grain or flour.


Questions 7-10
.. 1 … The youngest child of a prosperous Midwestern manufacturing family, Dorothy Reed was born in 1874 and educated at home by her grandmother. She graduated from Smith College and in 1896 entered Johns Hopkins Medical School. After receiving her M.D. degree, she worked at Johns Hopkins in the laboratories of two noted medical scientists. Reed’s research in pathology established conclusively that Hodgkin’s disease, until then thought to be a form of tuberculosis, was a distinct disorder characterized by a specific blood cell, which was named the Reed cell after her.

.. 2 … In 1906, her marriage to Charles Mendenhall took Reed away from the research laboratory. For ten years, she remained at home as the mother of young children before returning to professional life. She became a lecturer in Home Economics at the University of Wisconsin, where her principal concerns were collecting data about maternal and child health and preparing courses for new mothers.

.. 3 … Dorothy Reed Mendenhall’s career interests were reshaped by the requirements of marriage. Her passion for research was redirected to public health rather than laboratory science. Late in life, she concluded that she could not imagine life without her husband and sons, but she hoped for a future when marriage would not have to end a career of laboratory research.

Extension

1 Outside of class, look in a newspaper, a magazine, or a university textbook. Select a short passage of one to three paragraphs. Make a photocopy and bring it to class. In class, work with a partner. Read the passage and underline the most important ideas. Circle the important facts, details, and examples. With your partner, practice asking each other questions and giving answers about the facts.

2 Outside of class, work with a partner. Look in a magazine or a university textbook. Select a short passage of around 100 words. Write two questions about facts and details in the passage. You do not have to write the answers. For examples of how to write the questions, see the list of questions on page 36. Write the passage and questions on an overhead projector transparency, or make enough copies of the passage and questions for everyone in your class. Your class now has a reading test made entirely by students! As a class, take the test by either writing or discussing answers to the questions. Can you answer all of the questions about each passage by using only the information provided in the passage?

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