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In most earthquakes the Earth’s crust cracks like porcelain. Stress builds up until a fracture forms at a depth of a few kilometers and the crust slips to relieve the stress. Some earthquakes, however, take place hundreds of kilometers down in the Earth’s mantle, where high pressure makes rock so ductile that it flows instead of cracking, even under stress severe enough to deform it like putty. How can there be earthquakes at such depths?

That such deep events do occur has been accepted only since 1927, when the seismologist Kiyoo Wadati convincingly demonstrated their existence. Instead of comparing the arrival times of seismic waves at different locations, as earlier researchers had done. Wadati relied on a time difference between the arrival of primary (P) waves and the slower secondary (S) waves. Because P and S waves travel at different but fairly constant speeds, the interval between their arrivals increases in proportion to the distance from the earthquake focus, or rupture point.

For most earthquakes, Wadati discovered, the interval was quite short near the epicenter, the point on the surface where shaking is strongest. For a few events, however, the delay was long even at the epicenter. Wadati saw a similar pattern when he analyzed data on the intensity of shaking. Most earthquakes had a small area of intense shaking, which weakened rapidly with increasing distance from the epicenter, but others were characterized by a lower peak intensity, felt over a broader area. Both the P-S intervals and the intensity patterns suggested two kinds of earthquakes: the more common shallow events, in which the focus lay just under the epicenter, and deep events, with a focus several hundred kilometers down.

The question remained: how can such quakes occur, given that mantle rock at a depth of more than 50 kilometers is too ductile to store enough stress to fracture? Wadati’s work suggested that deep events occur in areas (now called Wadati-Benioff zones) where one crustal plate is forced under another and descends into the mantle. The descending rock is substantially cooler than the surrounding mantle and hence is less ductile and much more liable to fracture.

1. The passage is primarily concerned with

(A) demonstrating why the methods of early seismologists were flawed
(B) arguing that deep events are poorly understood and deserve further study
(C) defending a revolutionary theory about the causes of earthquakes and methods of predicting them
(D) discussing evidence for the existence of deep events and the conditions that allow them to occur
(E) comparing the effects of shallow events with those of deep events

2. The author uses the comparisons to porcelain and putty in order to

(A) explain why the Earth’s mantle is under great pressure
(B) distinguish the earthquake’s epicenter from its focus
(C) demonstrate the conditions under which a Wadati-Benioff zone forms
(D) explain why S waves are slower than P waves
(E) illustrate why the crust will fracture but the mantle will not

3. It can be inferred from the passage that if the S waves from an earthquake arrive at a given location long after the P waves, which of the following must be true?

(A) The earthquake was a deep event.
(B) The earthquake was a shallow event.
(C) The earthquake focus was distant.
(D) The earthquake focus was nearby.
(E) The earthquake had a low peak intensity.

4. The method used by Wadati to determine the depths of earthquakes is most like which of the following?
(A) Determining the depth of a well by dropping stones into the well and timing how long they take to reach the bottom
(B) Determining the height of a mountain by measuring the shadow it casts at different times of the day
(C) Determining the distance from a thunderstorm by timing the interval between the flash of a lightning bolt and the thunder it produces
(D) Determining the distance between two points by counting the number of paces it takes to cover the distance and measuring a single pace
(E) Determining the speed at which a car is traveling by timing how long it takes to travel a known distance

5. The passage supports which of the following statements about the relationship between the epicenter and the focus of an earthquake?

(A) P waves originate at the focus and S waves originate at the epicenter.
(B) In deep events the epicenter and the focus are reversed.
(C) In shallow events the epicenter and the focus coincide.
(D) In both deep and shallow events the focus lies beneath the epicenter.
(E) The epicenter is in the crust, whereas the focus is in the mantle.

6. The passage suggests that which of the following must take place in order for any earthquake to occur?

I. Stress must build up.
II. Cool rock must descend into the mantle.
III. A fracture must occur.

(A) I only
(B) II only
(C) III only
(D) I and III only
(E) I, II, and III

7. Information presented in the passage suggests that, compared with seismic activity at the epicenter of a shallow event, seismic activity at the epicenter of a deep event is characterized by

(A) shorter P-S intervals and higher peak intensity
(B) shorter P-S intervals and lower peak intensity
(C) longer P-S intervals and similar peak intensity
(D) longer P-S intervals and higher peak intensity
(E) longer P-S intervals and lower peak intensity

8. The passage suggests which of the following about the views held by researchers before 1927?

(A) Some researchers did not believe that deep events could actually occur.
(B) Many researchers rejected the use of P-S intervals for determining the depths of earthquakes.
(C) Some researchers doubted that the mantle was too ductile to store the stress needed for an earthquake.
(D) Most researchers expected P waves to be slower than S waves.
(E) Few researchers accepted the current model of how shallow events occur.

9. The author’s explanation of how deep events occur would be most weakened if which of the following were discovered to be true?

(A) Deep events are far less common than shallow events.
(B) Deep events occur in places other than where crustal plates meet.
(C) Mantle rock is more ductile at a depth of several hundred kilometers than it is at 50 kilometers.
(D) The speeds of both P and S waves are slightly greater than previously thought.
(E) Below 650 kilometers earthquakes cease to occur.

Highlight to see answers: 1. C 2. E 3. A 4. C 5. D 6. D 7. E 8. A 9. B

Please post your explanations in the comments below!

Desertification, the creation of desert-like conditions where none had existed before, is the result of the vagaries of weather and climate or the mismanagement of the land or, in most cases, some combination of both. Such ecological deterioration in the Sahel has been linked in several ways to the increased size of livestock herds. During the fifteen years preceding 1968, a period of extremely favorable rainfall, the pastoralists moved into the marginal regions in the north with relatively large herds. However, with the onset of a series of dry years beginning at the end of the rainy season in 1967, the pastoral populations found themselves overtaxing very marginal rangelands, with the result that the nomads viewed themselves as victims of a natural disaster. The mistaken idea that drought is an unexpected event has often been used to excuse the fact that long-range planning has failed to take rainfall variability into account. People blame the climate for agricultural failures in semiarid regions and make it a scapegoat for faulty population and agricultural policies.

Deterioration and ultimately desertification in the Sahel and in other ecosystems can be combated only if an ecologically realistic carrying capacity for the rangelands is determined. Although there appears to be widespread agreement that such a determination would be significant, there has been little agreement on how to make operational the concept of carrying capacity, defined as the amount of grazing stock that the pasture can support without deterioration of either the pasture or the stock. Should the carrying capacity be geared to the best, the average, or the poorest years? Which combination of statistical measures would be most meaningful for the planning of long-term development of rangelands? On which variables should such an assessment be based, vegetation, rainfall, soil, ground and surface water, or managerial capabilities? Such inconclusiveness within the scientific community, while understandable, creates confusion for the land managers, who often decide to take no action or who decide that all
scientific suggestions are of equal weight and, therefore, indiscriminately choose any one of those suggested. Given the downward spiral of land deterioration, it becomes essential that an ecologically acceptable carrying capacity be established and enforced.

It will also be crucial that land managers know what statistical and quasi-statistical measures actually mean: no single number can adequately describe the climate regime of an arid or semiarid region. Land managers must supplement such terms as the “mean” with more informative statistical measures to characterize adequately the variability of the climate. The understanding of this high degree of variability will serve to remove one of the major obstacles to resolving the perennial problems of the Sahel and of other arid or semiarid regions.

1. The author is primarily concerned with
(A) criticizing a social attitude
(B) suggesting an approach to solving a problem
(C) explaining the mechanics of a process
(D) defending the theories of ecological scientists
(E) establishing criteria for an experiment

2. According to the passage, which of the following contributed to the desertification of the Sahel?

I. The size of the livestock herds grazing on the land
II. The quality of the land in the Sahel
III. The amount of rainfall after 1967

(A) I only
(B) II only
(C) III only
(D) I and III only
(E) I, II, and III

3. It can be inferred from the passage that the nomadic tribes who moved into the marginal regions of the Sahel did NOT

(A) enlarge the size of their livestock herds
(B) conserve water after the drought began
(C) live in the Sahel after 1968
(D) expect a drastic change in weather conditions
(E) seek governmental aid in overcoming drought conditions

4. It can be inferred from the passage that the concept of the carrying capacity of land is
(A) still hypothetical rather than practical
(B) basically political rather than ecological
(C) independent of climatic conditions
(D) relatively unknown among ecologists
(E) generally misrepresented by ecologists

5. Which of the following best states the author’s view concerning the relationship between the ecological scientist and the land manager?
(A) The scientist has not provided the manager with clear guidelines that can be used in regulating the productivity of land.
(B) The scientist has provided theories that are too detailed for the manager to use successfully.
(C) The scientist and the manager, in attempting to regulate the use of semiarid land, have ignored the traditional behavior patterns of pastoral communities.
(D) The manager has misunderstood and hence misapplied the suggestions of the scientist.
(E) The manager has chosen from among the scientist’s suggestions those that are economically rather than ecologically safe.

6. With which of the following statements concerning desertification would the author be most likely to agree?
(A) It is the result of factors beyond the control of science.
(B) It is a problem largely affecting arid regions.
(C) It could be prevented if land managers understood statistics.
(D) It is not always the result of drastic climate changes alone.
(E) It is not attributable to faulty agricultural policies.

7. According to the passage, a statistical description of the climate regime of an arid or semiarid region would probably be
(A) misleading
(B) impossible
(C) complex
(D) meaningless
(E) abstract

8. The tone of the passage can best be described as
(A) flippant
(B) objective
(C) aggressive
(D) apologetic
(E) unconcerned

Highlight to see answers: 1. B 2. E 3. D 4. A 5. A 6. D 7. C 8. B

Please post your explanations in the comments below!

For years scholars have contrasted slavery in the United States and in Brazil, stimulated by the fact that racial patterns assumed such different aspects in the two countries after emancipation. Brazil never developed a system of rigid segregation of the sort that replaced slavery in the United States, and its racial system was fluid because its definition of race was based as much on characteristics such as economic status as on skin color. Until recently, the most persuasive explanation for these differences was that Portuguese institutions especially the Roman Catholic church and Roman civil law, promoted recognition of the slave’s humanity. The English colonists, on the other hand, constructed their system of slavery out of whole cloth. There were simply no precedents in English common law, and separation of church and state barred Protestant clergy from the role that priests assumed in Brazil.

But the assumption that institutions alone could so powerfully affect the history of two raw and malleable frontier countries seems, on reexamination, untenable. Recent studies focus instead on a particular set of contrasting economic circumstances and demographic profiles at significant periods in the histories of the two countries. Persons of mixed race quickly appeared in both countries. In the United States they were considered to be Black, a social definition that was feasible because they were in the minority. In Brazil, it was not feasible. Though intermarriage was illegal in both countries, the laws were unenforceable in Brazil since Whites formed a small minority in an overwhelmingly Black population. Manumission for persons of mixed race was also easier in Brazil, particularly in the nineteenth century when in the United States it was hedged about with difficulties. Furthermore, a shortage of skilled workers in Brazil provided persons of mixed race with the opportunity to learn crafts and trades, even before general emancipation, whereas in the United States entry into these occupations was blocked by Whites sufficiently numerous to fill the posts. The consequence was the development in Brazil of a large class of persons of mixed race, proficient in skilled trades and crafts, who stood waiting as a community for freed slaves to join.

There should be no illusion that Brazilian society after emancipation was color-blind. Rather, the large population of persons of mixed race produced a racial system that included a third status, a bridge between the Black caste and the White, which could be traversed by means of economic or intellectual achievement, marriage, or racial heritage. The strict and sharp line between the races so characteristic of the United States in the years immediately after emancipation was simply absent. With the possible exception of New Orleans, no special “place” developed in the United States for persons of mixed race. Sad to say, every pressure of society worked to prevent their attaining anything approximating the economic and social position available to their counterparts in Brazil.

1. In the passage, the author is primarily concerned with
(A) contrasting the systems of slavery that were established in Brazil and in the United States
(B) criticizing the arguments of those scholars who considered religion and law to be the determinants of the systems of slavery in Brazil and in the United States
(C) describing the factors currently thought to be responsible for the differences in the racial patterns that evolved in Brazil and in the United States
(D) advocating further study of the differences between the racial systems that developed in Brazil and in the United States
(E) pointing out the factors that made the status of Blacks in the United States lower than that of Blacks in Brazil

2. According to the passage, early scholars explained the differences between the racial systems that developed in the United States and in Brazil as the result of which of the following factors?
(A) Institutional
(B) Demographic
(C) Economic
(D) Geographical
(E) Historical

3. In the context in which it is found, the phrase “constructed their system of slavery out of whole cloth” implies that the system of slavery established by the English settlers was
(A) based on fabrications and lies
(B) tailored to the settlers’ particular circumstances
(C) intended to serve the needs of a frontier economy
(D) developed without direct influence from the settlers’ religion or legal system
(E) evolved without giving recognition to the slave’s humanity

4. The author implies that the explanation proposed by early scholars for the differences between the systems of slavery in the United States and in Brazil is
(A) stimulating to historians and legal scholars
(B) more powerful than more recent explanations
(C) persuasive in spite of minor deficiencies
(D) excessively legalistic in its approach
(E) questionable in light of current scholarly work

5. The author mentions intermarriage, manumission, and the shortage of skilled workers in Brazil primarily in order to establish which of the following?
(A) The environment in which Brazil’s racial system developed
(B) The influence of different legal and economic conditions in Brazil and the United States on the life-style of persons of mixed race
(C) The origins of Brazil’s large class of free skilled persons of mixed race
(D) The differences between treatment of slaves in Brazil and in the United States
(E) The difficulties faced by persons of mixed race in the United States, as compared to those in Brazil

6. According to the passage, Brazilian laws prohibiting intermarriage were ineffective because Brazil had a
(A) Portuguese Catholic heritage
(B) Small minority of whites
(C) Liberal set of laws concerning manumission
(D) Large number of freed slaves
(E) Shortage of people in the skilled crafts and trades

7. The use of quotation marks around the word “place” suggests that the author intended to convey which of the following?
(A) An ambivalent attitude toward the city of New Orleans
(B) A negative attitude toward the role of race in determining status in the United States
(C) A critical comment about the maltreatment of persons of mixed race in the United States
(D) A double meaning, indicating both a social status and a physical location
(E) An ambiguity, referring to either the role persons of mixed race actually played, or the role they were assigned by the society

8. With which of the following statements regarding human behavior would the author of the passage be most likely to agree?
(A) Only a fool or a political candidate would sing very loudly the glories of the institutions of Western culture.
(B) Contact sports—displacements of our abiding impulses to kill—speak of essential human behavior more truthfully than all the theories of psychologists and historians.
(C) Family, church, political party: these are the strong foundations of history and human behavior.
(D) Money and its pursuit: an exploration of that theme will chart accurately the development of civilizations and the determinants of human behavior.
(E) The circumstances in which humans find themselves—more than treasured beliefs or legal prescriptions—mold human behavior.

Highlight to see answers: 1. C 2. A 3. D 4. E 5. C 6. B 7. D 8. E

Please post your explanations in the comments below!

Agricultural progress provided the stimulus necessary to set off economic expansion in medieval France. As long as those who worked the land were barely able to ensure their own subsistence and that of their landlords, all other activities had to be minimal, but when food surpluses increased, it became possible to release more people for governmental, commercial, religious and cultural pursuits.

However, not all the funds from the agricultural surplus were actually available for commercial investment. Much of the surplus, in the form of food increases, probably went to raise the subsistence level; an additional amount, in the form of currency gained from the sale of food, went into the royal treasury to be used in waging war. Although Louis VII of France levied a less crushing tax burden on his subjects than did England’s Henry II, Louis VII did spend great sums on an unsuccessful crusade, and his vassals—both lay and ecclesiastic—took over spending where their sovereign stopped. Surplus funds were claimed both by the Church and by feudal landholders, whereupon cathedrals and castles mushroomed throughout France.

The simultaneous progress of cathedral building and, for instance, vineyard expansion in Bordeaux illustrates the very real competition for available capital between the Church and commercial interests; the former produced inestimable moral and artistic riches, but the latter had a stronger immediate impact upon gross national product. Moreover, though all wars by definition are defensive, the frequent crossings of armies that lived off the land and impartially burned all the huts and barns on their path consumed considerable resources.

Since demands on the agricultural surplus would have varied from year to year, we cannot precisely calculate their impact on the commercial growth of medieval France. But we must bear that impact in mind when estimating the assets that were likely to have been available for investment. No doubt castle and cathedral building was not totally barren of profit (for the builders, that is), and it produced intangible dividends of material and moral satisfaction for the community. Even wars handed back a fragment of what they took, at least to a few. Still, we cannot place on the same plane a primarily destructive activity and a constructive one, nor expect the same results from a new bell tower as from a new water mill. Above all, medieval France had little room for investment over and above the preservation of life. Granted that war cost much less than it does today, that the Church rendered all sorts of educational and recreational services that were unobtainable elsewhere, and that government was far less demanding than is the modern state—nevertheless, for medieval men and women, supporting commercial development required considerable economic sacrifice.

1. According to the passage, agricultural revenues in excess of the amount needed for subsistence were used by medieval kings to
(A) patronize the arts
(B) sponsor public recreation
(C) wage war
(D) build cathedrals
(E) fund public education

2. According to the passage, which of the following was an important source of revenue in medieval France?
(A) Cheese
(B) Wine
(C) Wool
(D) Olive oil
(E) Veal

3. The passage suggests that which of the following would have reduced the assets immediately available for commercial investment in medieval France?

I. Renovation of a large cathedral
II. A sharp increase in the birth rate
III. An invasion of France by Henry II

(A) III only
(B) I and II only
(C) I and III only
(D) II and III only
(E) I, II, and III

4. It can be inferred from the passage that more people could enter government and the Church in medieval France because

(A) the number of individual landholdings in heavily agricultural areas was beginning to increase
(B) an increase in the volume of international trade had brought an increase in the population of cities
(C) a decrease in warfare had allowed the king to decrease the size of the army
(D) food producers could grow more food than they and their families needed to survive
(E) landlords were prospering and thus were demanding a smaller percentage of tenants’ annual yields

5. The author implies that the reason we cannot expect the same results from a new bell tower as from a new water mill is that
(A) bell towers yield an intangible dividend
(B) bell towers provide material satisfaction
(C) water mills cost more to build than bell towers
(D) water mills divert funds from commerce
(E) water mills might well be destroyed by war

6. The author of the passage most probably bases his central argument on which of the following theoretical assumptions often made by economists?
(A) Different people should be taxed in proportion to the benefit they can expect to receive from public activity.
(B) Perfect competition exists only in the case where no farmer, merchant, or laborer controls a large enough share of the total market to influence market price.
(C) A population wealthy enough to cut back its rate of consumption can funnel the resulting savings into the creation of capital.
(D) A full-employment economy must always, to produce one good, give up producing another good.
(E) There is a universal tendency for population, unless checked by food supply, to increase in a geometric progression.

7. The author suggests that commercial expansion in medieval France “required considerable economic sacrifice” primarily for which of the following reasons?
(A) Cathedrals cost more to build and rebuild than did castles.
(B) The numerous wars fought during the period left the royal treasury bankrupt.
(C) Louis VII levied a more crushing tax burden on his subjects than did Henry II.
(D) Although much of the available surplus had been diverted into vineyard expansion, the vineyards had not yet begun to produce.
(E) Although more food was being produced, the subsistence level was not very far above the minimum required to sustain life.

8. The passage implies that which of the following yielded the lowest dividend to medieval men and women relative to its cost?
(A) Warfare
(B) Vineyard expansion
(C) Water mill construction
(D) Castle building
(E) Cathedral building

9. Which of the following statements best expresses the central idea of the passage?
(A) Commercial growth in medieval France may be accurately computed by calculating the number of castles and cathedrals built during the period.
(B) Competition between the Church and the feudal aristocracy for funds created by agricultural surplus demonstrably slowed the economic growth of medieval France.
(C) Despite such burdens as war and capital expansion by landholders, commerce in medieval France expanded steadily as the agricultural surplus increased.
(D) Funds actually available for commerce in medieval France varied with the demands placed on the agricultural surplus.
(E) The simultaneous progress of vineyard expansion and building in medieval France gives evidence of a rapidly expanding economy.

Highlight to see answers: 1. C 2. B 3. E 4. D 5. A 6. C 7. E 8. A 9. D

Please post your explanations in the comments below!

During the Victorian period, women writers were measured against a social rather than a literary ideal. Hence, it was widely thought that novels by women should be modest, religious, sensitive, guileless, and chaste, like their authors. Many Victorian women writers took exception to this belief, however, resisting the imposition of nonliterary restrictions on their work. Publishers soon discovered that the gentlest and most iddylike female novelists were tough-minded and relentless when their professional integrity was at stake. Keenly aware of their artistic responsibilities, these women writers would not make concessions to secure commercial success.

The Brontes, George Eliot, Elizabeth Barrett Browning, and their lesser-known contemporaries repudiated, in their professional lives, the courtesy that Victorian ladies might exact from Victorian gentlemen. Desiring rigorous and impartial criticism, most women writers did not wish reviewers to be kind to them if kindness meant overlooking their literary weaknesses or flattering them on their accomplishments simply because of their sex. They had expected derisive reviews; instead, they found themselves confronted with generous criticism, which they considered condescending. Elizabeth Barrett Browning labeled it “the comparative respect which means… absolute scorn.”

For their part, Victorian critics were virtually obsessed with finding the place of the woman writer so as to judge her appropriately. Many bluntly admitted that they thought Jane Eyre a masterpiece if written by a man, shocking or disgusting if written by a woman. Moreover, reactionary reviewers were quick to associate an independent heroine with carefully concealed revolutionary doctrine; several considered Jane Eyre a radical feminist document, as indeed it was. To Charlotte Bronte, who had demanded dignity and independence without any revolutionary intent and who considered herself politically conservative, their criticism was an affront. Such criticism bunched all women writers together rather than treating them as individual artists.

Charlotte Bronte’s experience served as a warning to other women writers about the prejudices that immediately associated them with feminists and others thought to be political radicals. Irritated, and anxious to detach themselves from a group stereotype, many expressed relatively conservative views on the emancipation of women (except on the subject of women’s education) and stressed their own domestic accomplishments. However, in identifying themselves with women who had chosen the traditional career path of marriage and motherhood, these writers encountered still another threat to their creativity. Victorian prudery rendered virtually all experience that was uniquely feminine unprintable. No nineteenth-century woman dared to describe childbirth, much less her sexual passion. Men could not write about their sexual experiences either, but they could write about sport, business, crime, and war—all activities from which women were barred. Small wonder no woman produced a novel like War and Peace. What is amazing is the sheer volume of first-rate prose and poetry that Victorian women did write.

1. The primary purpose of the passage is to
(A) refute the contention that no Victorian woman writer produced a novel like War and Peace
(B) trace the historical relationship between radical feminist politics and the Victorian novels written by women
(C) show how three Victorian women writers responded to criticism of their novels
(D) resolve the apparent contradiction between Victorian women writers’ literary innovativeness and their rather conservative social views
(E) describe the discrepancy between Victorian society’s expectations of women writers and the expectations of the women writers themselves

2. According to the passage, Victorian women writers “would not make concessions”  to publishers primarily because they felt that such concessions would
(A) require them to limit descriptions of uniquely feminine experiences
(B) compromise their artistic integrity
(C) make them vulnerable to stereotyping by critics
(D) provide no guarantee that their works would enjoy commercial success
(E) go against the traditions of English letters

3. The passage suggests that Victorian criticism of works by women writers was
(A) indulgent
(B) perfunctory
(C) resourceful
(D) timely
(E) apolitical

4. The author of the passage quotes Elizabeth Barrett Browning  in order to demonstrate that Victorian women writers
(A) possessed both talent and literary creativity
(B) felt that their works were misunderstood
(C) refused to make artistic concessions
(D) feared derisive criticism
(E) resented condescending criticism

5. It can be inferred from the passage that Charlotte Bronte considered the criticisms leveled at Jane Eyre by reactionary reviewers “an affront” primarily because such criticism
(A) exposed her carefully concealed revolutionary doctrine to public scrutiny
(B) assessed the literary merit of the novel on the basis of its author’s sex
(C) assumed that her portrayal of an independent woman represented revolutionary ideas
(D) labeled the novel shocking and disgusting without just cause
(E) denied that the novel was a literary masterpiece

6. Which of the following statements best describes the “threat” mentioned in the passage?
(A) Critics demanded to know the sex of the author before passing judgment on the literary quality of a novel.
(B) Women writers were prevented from describing in print experiences about which they had special knowledge.
(C) The reading public tended to prefer historical novels to novels describing contemporary London society.
(D) Publishers were urging Victorian women writers to publish under their own names rather than under pseudonyms.
(E) Women writers’ domestic responsibilities tended to take time away from their writing.

7. The passage suggests that the attitude of Victorian women writers toward being grouped together by critics was most probably one of
(A) relief
(B) indifference
(C) amusement
(D) annoyance
(E) ambivalence

8. It can be inferred from the passage that a Victorian woman writer who did not consider herself a feminist would most probably have approved of women’s
(A) entering the noncombat military
(B) entering the publishing business
(C) entering a university
(D) joining the stock exchange
(E) joining a tennis club

9. The passage suggests that the literary creativity of Victorian women writers could have been enhanced if
(A) women had been allowed to write about a broader range of subjects
(B) novels of the period had been characterized by greater stylistic and structural ingenuity
(C) a reserved and decorous style had been a more highly valued literary ideal
(D) publishers had sponsored more new women novelists
(E) critics had been kinder in reviewing the works of women novelists

Highlight to see answers: 1. E 2. B 3. A 4. E 5. C 6. B 7. D 8. C 9. A

Please post your explanations in the comments below!

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