Despite hypotheses ranging from armed conflict to climate change, the abandonment of more than 600 Pueblo cliff dwellings in Mesa Verde by A.D. 1300 still puzzles archaeologists. Researchers analyzing refuse from one Pueblo community found remains of maize—a Pueblo crop—in 44 percent of samples from years when the community flourished, but in only 10 percent of samples from years near the time of depopulation, while the remains of wild plants increased significantly.
Bones found in the samples showed that the consumption of domesticated turkeys—which were fed maize—decreased from 55 to 14 percent, while there was a marked increase in wild-animal bones. These data suggest that near the end of the site’s occupation, villagers experienced substantial food shortages and adopted hunting-and-gathering strategies to compensate for crop failure.
Question 1
According to the passage, which of the following is likely true regarding the consumption of wild plants in the Pueblo community investigated by researchers?
A. It decreased dramatically as the settlement began to decline.
B. It significantly affected the food supply of wild animals living nearby.
C. It increased as domesticated sources of food declined.
D. It represented a continuation of centuries-old traditions.
E. It fell markedly as the consumption of wild animals increased.
Question 2
The research described in the passage most clearly supports which of the following claims about the abandonment of Mesa Verde?
A. It likely resulted from factors affecting crop viability.
B. It was more extensive than had previously been documented.
C. It may have been hastened by the abundance of wild animals in the area.
D. It has been misdated by previous archaeological research.
E. It happened more rapidly in certain Pueblo communities than in others.
Although it is intuitively clear that an increase in antipredator behavior lowers an animal’s risk of predation when predators are present, such benefits are not easily demonstrated. One study that did so found that well-fed guppies are more alert for predators and are consequently less likely to be killed than are their hungry counterparts, which feed with greater intensity. It is also well documented that a decrease in activity lowers an animal’s risk of predation by reducing the probability of being detected or encountered by a predator. This effect was convincingly demonstrated by a study in which it was found that partially anesthetized tadpoles were less likely to be captured by dragonfly larvae than were unanesthetized tadpoles.
Question 3
It can be inferred that the guppy study and the tadpole study, as they are described in the passage, differed in which of the following ways?
A. The animals less likely to become the victims of predators were the more active ones in the guppy study but were the less active ones in the tadpole study.
B. The animals less likely to become the victims of predators were those more alert to their surroundings in the guppy study but were the less alert ones in the tadpole study.
C. The situation created experimentally for the guppy study would be more likely to occur in the wild than would the situation created for the tadpole study.
Question 4
In the context indicated, “demonstrated” (line 3) most nearly means
A. explained
B. presented
C. shown
D. protested
E. justified
Since the 1980s, experts have been claiming that the skill demands of today’s jobs have outstripped the skills workers possess. Moss and Tilly counter that worker deficiencies lie less in job-specific skills than in such attributes as motivation, interpersonal skills, and appropriate work demeanor. However, Handel suggests that these perceived defi-ciencies are merely an age effect, arguing that workers pass through a phase of early adulthood characterized by weak attachment to their jobs. As they mature, workers grow out of casual work attitudes and adjust to the workplace norms of jobs that they are more interested in retaining. Significantly, complaints regarding younger workers have persisted for over two decades, but similar complaints regarding older workers have not grown as the earlier cohorts aged.
Question 5
The passage suggests that Moss and Tilly are most likely to disagree with the “experts” (line 1) about which of the following?
A. Whether the skills demanded by jobs in the labor market have changed since the 1980s
B. Whether employers think that job-specific skills are as important as such attributes as motivation and appropriate work demeanor
C. Whether workers in today’s labor market generally live up to the standards and expectations of employers
D. Whether adequate numbers of workers in the labor market possess the particular skills demanded by various different jobs
E. Whether most workers are motivated to acquire new skills that are demanded by the labor market
Question 6
The last sentence serves primarily to
A. suggest that worker deficiencies are likely to become more pronounced in the future
B. introduce facts that Handel may have failed to take into account
C. cite evidence supporting Handel’s argument about workers
D. show that the worker deficiencies cited by Handel are more than an age effect
E. distinguish certain skills more commonly possessed by young workers from skills more commonly found among mature workers
In the early twentieth century, the idea that pianists should be musician-scholars whose playing reflected the way composers wanted their music to sound replaced the notion that pianists should be virtuosos whose performances thrilled audiences with emotional daring and showy displays of technique. One important figure to emerge in the period, though a harpsichordist rather than a pianist, was Wanda Landowska (1879–1959). She demonstrated how the keyboard works of Baroque composers such as Bach, Handel, Scarlatti, and Couperin probably sounded in their own times. It would be a mistake to consider Landowska a classicist, however. She had been born in an age of Romantic playing dominated by Liszt, Leschetizky,and their pupils. Thus she grew up with and was influenced by certain Romantic traditions of performance, whatever the stringency of her musical scholarship; Landowska knew how to hold audiences breathless, and when she gave recitals, they responded with deathlike silence and rapt attention.
Her playing was Romantic, but it was at least as close in spirit to the style of playing intended by composers of the Baroque (1600–1750) and Classical (1750–1830) eras, as have been the more exacting but less emotionally resonant interpretations of most harpsichordists since Landowska. She had a miraculous quality of touch, a seemingly autonomous left hand; no artist in her generation could clarify with such deftness the polyphonic writing of the Baroque masters. And none could make their music so spring to life.
Her achievements were the result of a lifetime of scholarship, truly remarkable physical gifts, and resilient rhythm, all combined with excellent judgment about when not to hold the printed note sacrosanct. Of course, developing such judgment demanded considerable experience and imagination. She was a genius at underlining the dramatic and emotional content of a piece, and to do so, she took liberties, all kinds of liberties, while nevertheless preserving the integrity of a composer’s score. In short, her entire musical approach was Romantic: intensely personal, full of light and shade, never pedantic.
Thanks to Landowska, Bach’s music (originally composed for the harpsichord) now sounded inappropriately thick when played on the piano. One by one, pianists stopped playing Bach’s music as adapted for the piano by Liszt or by Tausig. Then they gradually stopped performing any kind of Baroque music on the piano, even Scarlatti’s. The piano repertoire, it began to be felt, was extensive enough without reverting to transcriptions of Baroque music originally written for the harpsichord—and piano performances of Bach and Scarlatti were, despite the obvious similarities between the harpsichord and the piano, transcriptions, no matter how faithfully the original notes were played. In accordance with this kind of purism came an emphasis on studying composers’ manuscript notations, a relatively new field of musicology that is flourishing even today.
Her playing was Romantic, but it was at least as close in spirit to the style of playing intended by composers of the Baroque (1600–1750) and Classical (1750–1830) eras, as have been the more exacting but less emotionally resonant interpretations of most harpsichordists since Landowska. She had a miraculous quality of touch, a seemingly autonomous left hand; no artist in her generation could clarify with such deftness the polyphonic writing of the Baroque masters. And none could make their music so spring to life.
Her achievements were the result of a lifetime of scholarship, truly remarkable physical gifts, and resilient rhythm, all combined with excellent judgment about when not to hold the printed note sacrosanct. Of course, developing such judgment demanded considerable experience and imagination. She was a genius at underlining the dramatic and emotional content of a piece, and to do so, she took liberties, all kinds of liberties, while nevertheless preserving the integrity of a composer’s score. In short, her entire musical approach was Romantic: intensely personal, full of light and shade, never pedantic.
Thanks to Landowska, Bach’s music (originally composed for the harpsichord) now sounded inappropriately thick when played on the piano. One by one, pianists stopped playing Bach’s music as adapted for the piano by Liszt or by Tausig. Then they gradually stopped performing any kind of Baroque music on the piano, even Scarlatti’s. The piano repertoire, it began to be felt, was extensive enough without reverting to transcriptions of Baroque music originally written for the harpsichord—and piano performances of Bach and Scarlatti were, despite the obvious similarities between the harpsichord and the piano, transcriptions, no matter how faithfully the original notes were played. In accordance with this kind of purism came an emphasis on studying composers’ manuscript notations, a relatively new field of musicology that is flourishing even today.
Question 7
The passage suggests that Landowska’s playing embodied a rejection of which of the following?
A. Emotionally resonant interpretations of musical works.
B. An audience’s complete silence during a performance.
C. Performances of previously obscure Baroque works.
D. The idea that a performer can correctly judge when not to hold the printed note sacrosanct.
E. Performances emphasizing showy displays of technique that compromise the integrity of a composer’s original score.
Question 8
Which of the following can be inferred from the passage about the compositions of Scarlatti?
A. They were adapted by Liszt and Tausig.
B. They have not been transcribed faithfully.
C. They were not composed during the Baroque period.
D. They were composed for instruments other than piano.
E. They fell out of favor with most musicians in the early twentieth century.
Question 9
The passage suggests that Landowska would probably have objected most strongly to which of the following?
A. A performance of a Bach keyboard piece played on the harpsichord.
B. A performance of a Handel organ piece on a Baroque pipe organ.
C. A modern composition written for a harpsichord and two pianos.
D. A piano solo in which the performer occasionally departs from the tempo indicated by the composer.
E. A performance of a piano and violin sonata in which the piano part is played on the harpsichord.
Question 10
The author's assertion that Landowska should not be considered a classicist serves primarily to emphasize which of the following?
A. Landowska specialized in playing the works of composers of the Baroque era.
B. Landowska’s repertoire included orchestral music only.
C. Landowska’s musical performances were not devoid of emotion.
D. Landowska’s repertoire emphasized works of long-lasting interest and value.
E. Landowska advocated the study of Classical style or form.
Scientists formerly believed that the rocky planets—Earth, Mercury, Venus, and Mars—were created by the rapid gravitational collapse of a dust cloud, a deflation giving rise to a dense orb. That view was challenged in the 1960s, when studies of Moon craters revealed that these craters were caused by the impact of objects that were in great abundance about 4.5 billion years ago but whose number appeared to have quickly decreased shortly thereafter. This observation rejuvenated Otto Schmidt’s 1944 theory of accretion. According to this theory, cosmic dust gradually lumped into ever-larger conglomerates: particulates, gravel, small and then larger balls, planetesimals (tiny planets), and, ultimately, planets. As the planetesimals became larger, their numbers decreased. Consequently, the number of collisions between planetesimals decreased.
Question 11
The passage provides evidence that Schmidt would be likely to disagree with the theory presented in the first sentence over
A. the length of time it took for the rocky planets to form.
B. the most likely causes of the Moon’s impact craters.
C. the importance of cosmic dust as a seminal material in planetary formation.
Question 12
Which of the following best describes the “observation” (line 6) referred to in the passage?
A. The rocky planets were created by the rapid gravitational collapse of a dust cloud.
B. Certain features on the Moon’s surface are impact craters caused by collisions with objects such as planetesimals.
C. The rocky planets were formed by a slow accretion of cosmic dust into increasingly larger bodies.
D. The number of objects colliding with the Moon appears to have been high for a while and then rapidly diminished.
E. There are far fewer planetesimals in existence today than there were about 4.5 billion years ago.
