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Sample Reading Comprehension
This test measures your ability to obtain information from
written passages. You will be presented with a passage followed by a
number of questions about it. A sample passage is shown below, followed
by three sample questions. This passage is shorter than those on the
actual test.
Passage:
The timing of New Year's Day has changed with customs
and calendars. The Mayan civilization, on what is now called the Yucatan
peninsula of Mexico, celebrated the new year on one of the two days when
the noonday sun is directly overhead. In the equatorial regions of the
earth, between the Tropics of Cancer and Capricorn, the sun is in this
position twice a year, once on its passage southward, and once on its
passage northward. At the early Mayan city of Izapa in the southern
Yucatan, the overhead date for the sun on its southward passage was
August 13. The Mayans celebrated this as the date for the beginning of
the new year. Later, at the more northerly Mayan site of Edzna, the
corresponding overhead date is July 26. Analyses of Mayan pictorial
calendars indicate that they celebrated the new year on August 13 prior
to 150 AD, and on July 26 after that year. This change has been
explained by archaeological dating showing that 150 AD was the time that
Mayans moved the hub of their civilization from the southern to the
northern site.
4.
According to the passage, the sun at Edzna was directly overhead at noon
on:
A. July 26 only.
B. August 13 only
C. July 26 and one other date
D. August 13 and one other date
5. If the Mayans had moved their civilization's center
south of Izapa, their new date for the celebration of the new year would
probably have been closest to which of the following dates?
A. January 1
B. February 20
C. March 25
D. September 15
6. Why did the Mayans move their capital city from
Izapa to Edzna?
A. The climate at Edzna was
more temperate.
B. Lunar eclipses were move visible at Edzna
C. The Terrain near Edzna was more suitable for
agriculture.
D. Cannot be determined from the information
given. |