PSAT_Practice_Test_P2

Reading Test 60 MINUTES, 47 QUESTIONS Turn to Section 1 of your answer sheet to answer the questions in this section. DIRECTIONS Each passage or pair of passages below is followed by a number of questions. After read ...

Reading Test 60 MINUTES, 47 QUESTIONS Turn to Section 1 of your answer sheet to answer the questions in this section. DIRECTIONS Each passage or pair of passages below is followed by a number of questions. After reading each passage or pair, choose the best answer to each question based on what is stated or implied in the passage or passages and in any accompanying graphics (such as a table or graph). Questions 1–9 are based on the following passage. The following is an excerpt from Thomas Hardy, “The Return of the Native.” © 1878. This excerpt concerns a man named Clym Yeobright who has recently returned to his hometown, Egdon Heath. In Clym Yeobright’s face could be dimly seen the typical countenance of the future. The observer’s eye was arrested, not by his face as a picture, but by his face as a page; not by what it was, but by what it recorded. His features were attractive in the light of symbols, as sounds intrinsically common become attractive in language, and as shapes intrinsically simple become interesting in writing. He had been a lad of whom something was expected. Beyond this all had been chaos. That he would be successful in an original way, or that he would go to the dogs in an original way, seemed equally probable. The only absolute certainty about him was that he would not stand still in the circumstances amid which he was born. Hence, when his name was casually mentioned by neighbouring yeomen, the listener said, “Ah, Clym Yeobright—what is he doing now?” When the instinctive question about a person is, What is he doing? it is felt that he will be found to be, like most of us, doing nothing in particular. There is an indefinite sense that he must be invading some region of singularity, good or bad. The devout hope is that he is doing well. The secret faith is that he is making a mess of it. Half a dozen comfortable market-men, who were habitual callers at the Quiet Woman as they passed by in their carts, were partial to the topic. In fact, though they were not Egdon men, they could hardly avoid it while they sucked their long clay tubes and regarded the heath through the window. Clym had been so inwoven with the heath in his boyhood that hardly anybody could look upon it without thinking of him. So the subject recurred: if he were making a fortune and a name, so much the better for him; if he were making a tragical figure in the world, so much the better for a narrative. The fact was that Yeobright’s fame had spread to an awkward extent before he left home. “It is bad when your fame outruns your means,” said the Spanish Jesuit Gracian. At the age of six he had asked a Scripture riddle: “Who was the first man known to wear breeches?” and applause had resounded from the very verge of the heath. At seven he painted the Battle of Waterloo with tiger-lily pollen and black-currant juice, in the absence of water-colours. By the time he reached twelve he had in this manner been heard of as artist and scholar for at least two miles round. An individual whose fame spreads three or four thousand yards in the time taken by the fame of others similarly situated to travel six or eight hundred, must of necessity have something in him. Possibly Clym’s fame, like Homer’s, owed something to the accidents of his situation; nevertheless famous he was. He grew up and went to London; and thence, shortly after, to Paris, where he had remained till now. Something being expected of him, he had not been at home many days before a great curiosity as to why he stayed on so long began to arise in the heath. The natural term of a holiday had passed, yet he still remained. Line 5 10 15 20 25 30 35 40 45 50 553 1 1 Was Yeobright’s mind well-proportioned? No. A well proportioned mind is one which shows no particular bias; its usual blessings are happiness and mediocrity. It enables its possessors to find their way to wealth, to wind up well, to step with dignity off the stage, to die comfortably in their beds, and to get the decent monument which, in many cases, they deserve. It never would have allowed Yeobright to do such a ridiculous thing as throw up his business to benefit his fellowcreatures. He walked along towards home without attending to paths. If anyone knew the heath well it was Clym. He was permeated with its scenes, with its substance, and with its odours. He might be said to be its product. His eyes had first opened thereon; with its appearance all the first images of his memory were mingled, his estimate of life had been coloured by it: his toys had been the flint knives and arrow-heads which he found there, wondering why stones should “grow” to such odd shapes; his flowers, the purple bells and yellow furze: his animal kingdom, the snakes and croppers; his society, its human haunters. He gazed upon the wide prospect as he walked, and was glad. 1 The passage describes an important distinction between A) Clym’s personal desires and public expectations. B) Clym’s distaste for Paris and his appreciation of the heath. C) Clym’s religious upbringing and artistic success. D) Clym’s local support and foreign detractors. 2 Which choice provides the best evidence for the answer to the previous question? A) Lines 16–18 (“Hence, when . . . now?”) B) Lines 39–42 (“At the age . . . heath”) C) Lines 66–69 (“It never . . . fellow-creatures”) D) Lines 81–82 (“He gazed . . . glad”) 3 As used in line 3, “arrested” most nearly means A) indicted. B) forced. C) charged. D) engaged. 4 The author uses the quote (“It is bad . . . your means”) in lines 37–38 primarily to suggest that A) Clym may not live up to the people of his hometown’s expectations, despite relatively widespread fame. B) Clym has used his fame to his advantage for too long and now people are beginning to bore of him. C) Clym has run out of money and can no longer support his luxurious European lifestyle. D) Clym can never live up to his own notoriety. 5 The fifth paragraph (lines 55–59) primarily serves to A) show the townspeople’s frustration that Clym won’t go back to Paris. B) underscore that Clym’s extended return is incongruous with someone of his potential. C) provide an example of the locals’ intrusive presence in Clym’s life. D) prove that Clym’s illustriousness has spread to an awkward extent. 6 As used in line 51, “accidents” most nearly means A) crashes. B) slips. C) chance. D) trauma