<p>Continuing Test 1 from 1st edition of the Blue Book</p>
<p>Section 8</p>
<ol>
<li> “gullible person unable to resist the traps” gives me a hint to look for something that means “a victim”. C, prey, is the best fit.</li>
<li> “Improvements in refrigeration and transportation” gives me a hint to look for some positive improvement. Eliminate: A - “slowed the distribution of available food”, B – “accelerated the perishability of available food”, D – “lowered the amount of available food” and E – “created the dearth of available food”. My choice is C – “expanded the variety of available food”.</li>
<li> “Although” says that the two authors will be compared in something they have in common. C and E can be eliminated because their first words do not fit this logic. B doesn’t make sense. In D the second word doesn’t fit the logic. My choice is A – “comparison between the two is inevitable because they both lived in and wrote about Mississippi”.</li>
<li> “surprised reporters by weeping openly” tells me that I am looking for something “the least (showy) of emotions”. B, demonstrative, fits perfectly.</li>
<li> “so dense and obscure” tells me that I am looking for something meaning “denseness and obscureness”. E, opacity, is a perfect fit.</li>
<li> “companies seeking permission” should argue that the effects for animals are small or non-existant. C, negligible, fits well.</li>
<li> First answer questions 9-12 (you can’t read both passages at once; you’ll have an overload of information). Finish reading the passage 2. I get the idea that while the author adopted some characteristics of upper social class, he is still feeling like a boy from the slums and doesn’t really like what he sees “in well-off people’s lives”. The problem is, he seems to belong to neither of the classes anymore. He is a hybrid. Okay, now that I understand all that, I am ready to tackle the remaining questions. How the characters from the both passages are similar? A – the narrator of the passage 2 isn’t eager to advance socially, eliminate. B – true. C – the narrator of the passage 2 didn’t do any deceiving, eliminate. D – isn’t true for the passage 1, eliminate. E – there was no talk about influence of the lifestyles of friends, eliminate. I can be confidentthat the correct choice is B. </li>
<li> First answer questions 9-12. What is the characteristic of Jerry that is different from the narrator of the passage 2? A – seems to fit. B – relevant only to passage 1. C – is true for neither of the passages, eliminate. D – Jerry seemed to like to label himself just fine, eliminate. E – “people of all social and economic classes” is not true for Jerry, eliminate. Then the answer is A.</li>
<li> Read the first sentence. Notice “at that time”. Now let’s see the choices. A – nothing was mentioned about the truth, eliminate. B – the narrator recognized it perfectly, eliminate. C – no mention about the background in the first sentence, eliminate. D – possible. E – no such idea was expressed in the first sentence. Then the correct choice is D, with “at the time” hinting that this view will change.</li>
<li>Underline the word “modest”. Read from where you left until you finish the sentence with “modest” in it. Note “so careful… such modest calculations”. You get the sense that Jerry is being careful not to be detected. Look through the choices to find a fit. A, B and C do not fit at all. D – does not create the sense of being careful. E seems to fit the best. </li>
<li>Underline the word “insignificant” and read the first two sentences of the second paragraph to get the idea. What the sentences say is that in such a place like Africa you can lie and will not be caught. Let’s see the choices. A – seems to fit. B – no one was implying that lying in Africa is a commonplace behaviour. C – Jerry seems to know perfectly what’s a fantasy and what’s reality, eliminate. D – author’s reputation was not mentioned in the passage. E – no such thing was implied. Then I can be confident about the choice A.</li>
<li>Now I know what the passage is about. Looking at the choices. A – seems correct. B – on the contrary, Jerry seems to be accepted, eliminate. C – I could infer from the passage that Jerry wasn’t valued in America because of his low status, eliminate. D – no family obligations and constraints were mentioned. E – “varied social background” makes the answer incorrect because Jerry seems to be drawn to high social status. </li>
<li>First answer the questions 14-17. I am looking for something that is true for the narrator of passage 2. I eliminate A and E because they are true for Jerry, not the narrator of passage 2. B – “frequently impossible to obtain” – narrator found it possible to advance, and even was seen by higher class people as becoming one of them: “…in the accepting eyes of those a class above me, was that I had already partly metamorphosed into them”. C – there was no discussion about “love for a childhood home”. D – I am left with this answer and it seems to be correct. Now answer 18-19 questions.</li>
<li>Mark the lines. Now read the passage till you finish the marked lines and one sentence more to get a finished idea. I get the idea that the author is feeling “out of the place” because he is from a different social class but Anna and Chris are friendly and accepting no matter how much the author is trying to show his “real face”. Let’s look at the answer choices. A – the author is not expressing suspicion and mistrust. B – the author was never estranged and even says that “Anna and Chris made me feel at ease the first day in their polished living room”. C – no feelings of despondency are detected in the lines I just read. D – seems to be correct. E – the author is not rejecting his social status; he seems to accept it and is willing to demonstrate it in order to be honest. Then the answer is D. </li>
<li>Underline the lines 44-45. Read on from where you left. “I then suspected… leading stimulating lives…” What I just read is, the author thinks that maybe his rough-edgedness is entertaining the bored couple, except that the couple is not bored at all and have leading stimulating lives. Let’s look at the choices. A – no one is talking about the gossip here. B – no one says that Anna and Chris were trying to make a good impression; they were people who were at ease. C – I already understood from the passage that the couple was very welcoming and accepting, eliminate. D – the couple doesn’t have to pretend; they have very stimulating lives. E – I am left with this answer. It seems to be fitting just fine.</li>
<li>Underline the phrase “in the world”. Read the sentence with it to get the idea. “In the world” should mean opposite from “bored and dried-up”. Let’s see the choices. A – there was no discussion of mundane aspects of life. B – no one was talking about “upper-class social conventions” here. C – there was no mention of spirituality anywhere. D – we already got the idea that the couple is far from “ruthless”. E – seems to fit. It is my choice.</li>
<li>Mark the word and read the sentence with it. I get the idea that the author had to come to the conclusion that he was really liked by the couple but does not feel comfortable with this conclusion yet. Let’s look at the choices. A, B and E can be eliminated as out of context choices. D – no, the author is not frightened. It means the answer is C and it fits perfectly. Now come back to unanswered passage 2 questions since it seems that the rest of the questions are comparing both passages.</li>
<li>How the subject of identity is treated in the two passages? Let’s see the choices… A – possible. B – emphasizing or de-emphasizing the importance of the background weren’t central ideas of the two passages, eliminate. C – the center of passage 2 wasn’t the “affirming that identity is imposed by others”, eliminate. D – “the impact of one’s physical surroundings to the identity” wasn’t the topic of the passages, eliminate. E – out of topic. If the passages do not consider that, then it doesn’t exist and can’t be the correct answer, definitely eliminate. Since I found faults and eliminated B-E, A qualifies for a confident correct answer. Let’s check in my mind how the statement about the passage 2 fits: external factors – the surroundings, internal factors – how the narrator felt and what his opinion was about which social class he belongs to. Next question.</li>
<li>Generalization about class atittudes supported by both passages. Let’s see. A – that wasn’t supported by both passages, eliminate. B – Jerry proves that the low class is concerned too, eliminate. C – passage 2 didn’t mention anything about “living abroad” and the rest of the statement fits neither of the passages. D – isn’t true for the passage 2. E – true for both.</li>
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