Passage Reading and English Comprehension

Right now I am looking at a shelf full of books. Yes, that's right. If you have some spare cash (the going rate is about $89) and are looking to enhance your reading experience, then I highly suggest you consider purchasing an e-reader. E-readers are replacing the books of old, and I welcome them with open arms (as you should).

If you haven't heard of an e-reader and don't know what it is, then please permit the following explanation. An e-reader is a device that allows you to read e-books. An e-book is a book-length publication in digital form, consisting of text, images, or both, and produced on, published through, and readable on computers or other electronic devices. Sometimes the equivalent of a conventional printed book, e-books can also be born digital. The Oxford Dictionary of English defines the e-book as "an electronic version of a printed book," but e-books can and do exist without any printed equivalent. So now you know what an e-reader is. But you still may be wondering why they put printed books to shame. E-readers are superior to printed books because they save space, are environmentally friendly, and provide helpful reading tips and tools that printed books do not.

E-readers are superior to printed books because they save space. The average e-reader can store thousands of digital books, providing a veritable library at your fingertips. What is more, being the size and weight of a thin hardback, the e-reader itself is relatively petite. It is easy to hold and can fit in a pocketbook or briefcase easily. This makes handling ponderous behemoths such as War and Peace, Anna Karenina, and Les Misérables a breeze. Perhaps the only drawback to the space-saving aspect of an e-reader is that it requires you to find new things to put on your shelves.

In addition, e-readers are superior to books because they are environmentally friendly. The average novel is about 300 pages long. So, if a novel is printed 1000 times, it will use 300,000 pieces of paper. That's a lot of paper! If there are about 80,000 pieces of paper in a tree, this means it takes almost 4 trees to make these 1000 books. Now, we know that the average bestseller sells about 20,000 copies per week. That means that it takes over 300 trees each month to sustain this rate. And for the super bestsellers, these figures increase dramatically. For example, the Harry Potter book series has sold over 450 million copies. That's about 2 million trees! Upon viewing these figures, it is not hard to grasp the severe impact of printed books on the environment. Since e-readers use no trees, they represent a significant amount of preservation in terms of the environment and its resources.

Finally, e-readers are superior to books because they provide helpful reading tips and tools that printed books do not. The typical e-reader allows its user to customize letter size, font, and line spacing. It also allows highlighting and electronic bookmarking. Furthermore, it grants users the ability to get an overview of a book and then jump to a specific location based on that overview. While these are all nice features, perhaps the most helpful of all is the ability to get dictionary definitions at the touch of a finger. On even the most basic e-reader, users can conjure instant definitions without having to hunt through a physical dictionary.

It can be seen that e-readers are superior to printed books. They save space, are environmentally friendly, and provide helpful reading tips and tools that printed books do not. So what good are printed books? Well, they certainly make nice decorations.

1278. As used in paragraph 1, it can be inferred that "relics,” “has-beens, old-timers, antiques, fossils" are all words that describe something

	(a) ancient
	(b) useless
	(c) outdated
	(d) pathetic

1279. The tone of the author can best be described as

	(a) shrewd
	(b) conniving
	(c) persuasive
	(d) authoritative

1280. According to the author, e-books

I. were all once printed books
II. may be "born digital"
III. are able to display images

	(a) I only
	(b) I and II only
	(c) II and III only
	(d) I, II, and III

1281. As used in paragraph 3, which of the following describes something that has been "put to shame"?

	(a) A dog is left outside on a frigid, dreary winter night
	(b) Team A defeats Team B in a humiliating rout
	(c) Martha is caught stealing at the mall and is arrested in front of a crowd of curious bystanders
	(d) The machine has countless moving parts and Dustin has trouble assembling it

1282. A thesis statement is a sentence that clearly describes what the author plans to discuss. Based on this information, which of the following sentences from the passage is the thesis statement?

	(a) If you have some spare cash (the going rate is about $89) and are looking to enhance your reading experience, then I highly suggest you consider purchasing an e-reader
	(b) E-readers are replacing the books of old, and I welcome them with open arms (as you should)
	(c) An e-reader is a device that allows you to read e-books. An e-book is a book-length publication in digital form, consisting of text, images, or both, and produced on, published through, and readable on computers or other electronic devices
	(d) E-readers are superior to printed books because they save space, are environmentally friendly, and provide helpful reading tips and tools that printed books do not

1283. Based on its use in paragraph 4, it can be inferred that petite belongs to which of the following word families?

	(a) jubilant, euphoric, playful
	(b) compact, diminutive, little
	(c) cute, attractive, charming
	(d) light, airy, spacious

1284. Based on information in the passage, it can be inferred that War and Peace, Anna Karenina, and Les Misérables are all

	(a) authored by Europeans
	(b) dense and impenetrable
	(c) timeless classics
	(d) awkward or unwieldy

1285. As used in paragraph 5, which is the best synonym for sustain?

	(a) maintain
	(b) allow
	(c) enforce
	(d) yield

1286. Which of the following, if true, would present the biggest challenge to the author's argument set forth in paragraph 5?

	(a) Books are not made only from whole trees, but from wood chips and forest waste as well
	(b) The natural resources required to read an e-book on an e-reader are greater than the natural resources required to make a printed book
	(c) The results of a recent survey show that people who read e-books are more likely to be distracted during their reading and remember less of the book
	(d) Although the printing of the extremely popular Harry Potter book series had significant environmental impact, the Harry Potter movie series cost almost no trees to make and was also very well-liked

1287. According to the author, which of the following reading tips and tools are offered by the e-reader?

I. line spacing customization
II. the ability to quickly jump to the end of a book
III. access to an online thesaurus at the touch of a finger

	(a) I only
	(b) I and II only
	(c) II and III only
	(d) I, II, and III

1288. Which of the following best describes the organization of this passage?

	(a) introduction, thesis statement, supporting paragraphs, conclusion
	(b) history, thesis statement, supporting paragraphs, conclusion
	(c) advertisement, background, introduction, supporting paragraphs, examples, conclusion
	(d) introduction, background, thesis statement, supporting paragraphs, conclusion

TOTAL

Detailed Solution

1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	11	12	13	14	15	16	17	18	19	20
21	22	23	24	25	26	27	28	29	30	31	32	33	34	35	36	37	38	39	40
41	42	43	44	45	46	47	48	49	50	51	52	53	54	55	56	57	58	59	60
61	62	63	64	65	66	67	68	69	70	71	72	73	74	75	76	77	78	79	80
81	82	83	84	85	86	87	88	89	90	91	92	93	94	95	96	97	98	99	100
101	102	103	104	105	106	107	108	109	110	111	112	113	114	115	116	117	118	119	120
121	122	123	124	125	126	127	128	129	130	131	132	133	134	135	136	137	138	139	140
141	142	143	144	145	146	147	148	149	150	151	152	153	154	155	156	157	158	159	160
161	162	163	164	165	166	167	168	169	170	171	172	173	174	175	176	177	178	179	180
181	182	183	184	185	186	187	188	189	190	191	192	193	194	195	196	197	198	199	200
201	202	203	204	205	206	207	208	209	210	211	212	213	214	215	216	217	218	219	220
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261	262	263	264	265	266	267	268	269	270	271	272	273	274	275	276	277	278	279	280
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361	362	363	364	365	366	367	368	369	370	371	372	373	374	375	376	377	378	379	380
381	382	383	384	385	386	387	388	389	390	391	392	393	394	395	396	397	398	399	400
401	402	403	404	405	406	407	408	409	410	411	412	413	414	415	416	417	418	419	420
421	422	423	424	425	426	427	428	429	430	431	432	433	434	435	436	437	438	439	440
441	442	443	444	445	446	447	448	449	450	451	452	453	454	455	456	457	458	459	460
461	462	463	464	465	466	467	468	469	470	471	472	473	474	475	476	477	478	479	480
481	482	483	484	485	486	487	488	489	490	491	492	433	494	495	496	497	498	499	500

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