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GRE閱讀真題之OG

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Passage 15

At a certain period in Earth’s history, its atmosphere contained almost no oxygen, although plants were producing vast quantities of oxygen. As a way of reconciling these two facts, scientists have hypothesized that nearly all of the oxygen being produced was taken up by iron on Earth’s surface. Clearly, however, this explanation is inadequate. New studies show that the amount of iron on Earth’s surface was not sufficient to absorb anywhere near as much oxygen as was being produced. Therefore, something in addition to the iron on Earth’s surface must have absorbed much of the oxygen produced by plant life.

1. In the argument given, the two portions in boldface play which of the following roles?

A. The first is a claim made by the argument in support of a certain position; the second is that position.

B. The first is a judgment made by the argument about a certain explanation; the second is that explanation.

C. The first expresses the argument’s dismissal of an objection to the position it seeks to establish; the second is that position.

D. The first sums up the argument’s position with regard to a certain hypothesis; the second provides grounds for that position.

E. The first is a concession by the argument that its initial formulation of the position it seeks to establish requires modification; the second presents that position in a modified form.

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Passage 16

Animal signals, such as the complex songs of birds, tend to be costly. A bird, by singing, may forfeit time that could otherwise be spent on other important behaviors such as foraging or resting. Singing may also advertise an individual’s location to rivals or predators and impair the ability to detect their approach. Although these types of cost may be important, discussions of the cost of singing have generally focused on energy costs. Overall the evidence is equivocal: for instance, while Eberhardt found increases in energy consumption during singing for Carolina wrens, Chappell found no effect of crowing on energy consumption in roosters.

To obtain empirical data regarding the energy costs of singing, Thomas examined the relationship between song rate and overnight changes in body mass of male nightingales. Birds store energy as subcutaneous fat deposits or “body reserves”; changes in these reserves can be reliably estimated by measuring changes in body mass. If singing has important energy costs, nightingales should lose more body mass on nights when their song rate is high. Thomas found that nightingales reached a significantly higher body mass at dusk and lost more mass overnight on nights when their song rate was high.

These results suggest that there may be several costs of singing at night associated with body reserves. The increased metabolic cost of possessing higher body mass contributes to the increased overnight mass loss. The strategic regulation of evening body reserves is also likely to incur additional costs, as nightingales must spend more time foraging in order to build up larger body reserves. The metabolic cost of singing itself may also contribute to increased loss of reserves. This metabolic cost may arise from the muscular and neural activity involved in singing or from behaviors associated with singing. For example, birds may expend more of their reserves on thermoregulation if they spend the night exposed to the wind on a song post than if they are in a sheltered roost site. Thomas’s data therefore show that whether or not singing per se has an important metabolic cost, metabolic costs associated with singing can have an important measurable effect on a bird’s daily energy budget, at least in birds with high song rates such as nightingales.

1. The primary purpose of the passage is to

A. compare the different types of cost involved for certain birds in singing

B. question a hypothesis regarding the energy costs of singing for certain birds

C. present evidence suggesting that singing has an important energy cost for certain birds

D. discuss the benefits provided to an organism by a behavior that is costly in energy

E. describe an experiment that supports an alternative model of how birdsong functions

For the following question, consider each of the choices separately and select all that apply.

2. The passage implies that during the day before a night on which a male nightingale’s song rate is high, that nightingale probably does which of the following?

A. Expends less of its reserves on thermoregulation than on other days

B. Stores more energy as body reserves than on other days

C. Hides to avoid predators

3. Select the sentence in the first or second paragraph that presents empirical results in support of a hypothesis about the energy costs of singing.

For the following question, consider each of the choices separately and select all that apply.

4. It can be inferred from the passage that compared with other costs of singing, which of the following is true of the energy costs of singing?

A. They are the single greatest cost to an individual bird.

B. They have generally received more attention from scientists.

C. They vary less from one bird species to another.

GRE閱讀真題之OG

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Passage 17

In the past ten years, there have been several improvements in mountain-climbing equipment. These improvements have made the sport both safer and more enjoyable for experienced climbers. Despite these improvements, however, the rate of mountain-climbing injuries has doubled in the past ten years.

1. Which of the following, if true, best reconciles the apparent discrepancy presented in the passage?

A. Many climbers, lulled into a false sense of security, use the new equipment to attempt climbing feats of which they are not capable.

B. Some mountain-climbing injuries are caused by unforeseeable weather conditions.

C. Mountain climbing, although a dangerous sport, does not normally result in injury to the experienced climber.

D. In the past ten years there have been improvements in mountain-climbing techniques as well as in mountain-climbing equipment.

E. Although the rate of mountain-climbing injuries has increased, the rate of mountain-climbing deaths has not changed.

GRE閱讀真題之OG

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Passage 18

The condition of scholarship devoted to the history of women in photography is confounding. Recent years have witnessed the posthumous inflation of the role of the hobbyist Alice Austen into that of a pioneering documentarian while dozens of notable senior figures—Marion Palfi, whose photographs of civil-rights activities in the South served as early evidence of the need for protective legislation, to name one— received scant attention from scholars. And, while Naomi Rosenblum’s synoptic History of Women Photographers covers the subject through 1920 in a generally useful fashion, once she reaches the 1920s, when the venues, forms, applications, and movements of the medium expanded exponentially, she resorts to an increasingly terse listing of un-familiar names, with approaches and careers summarized in a sentence or two.

1. The author of the passage cites Rosenblum’s book most likely in order to

A. suggest that the works documented most thoroughly by historians of women in photography often do not warrant that attention

B. offer an explanation for the observation that not all aspects of the history of women in photography have received the same level of attention

C. provide an example of a way in which scholarship on the history of women in photography has been unsatisfactory

D. suggest that employing a strictly chronological approach when studying the history of women in photography may be unproductive

E. provide support for the notion that certain personalities in women’s photography have attained undue prominence

For the following question, consider each of the choices separately and select all that apply.

2. Which of the following statements about Marion Palfi is supported by the passage?

A. Marion Palfi’s photographs would have received greater recognition from historians had her work been done in an era when most aspects of photography were static rather than in a state of transition.

B. Alice Austen has achieved greater notoriety than has Marion Palfi primarily because the subjects that Austen photographed were more familiar to her contemporaries.

C. In addition to providing a record of certain historical events, Marion Palfi’s photographs played a role in subsequent events.

3. In the context in which it appears, “inflation” (line 2) most nearly means

A. exaggeration

B. acquisition

C. evaluation

D. distortion

E. attenuation

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Passage 19

When marine organisms called phytoplankton photosynthesize, they absorb carbon dioxide dissolved in seawater, potentially causing a reduction in the concentration of atmospheric carbon dioxide, a gas that contributes to global warming. However, phytoplankton flourish only in surface waters where iron levels are sufficiently high. Martin therefore hypothesized that adding iron to iron-poor regions of the ocean could help alleviate global warming. While experiments subsequently confirmed that such a procedure increases phytoplankton growth, field tests have shown that such growth does not significantly lower atmospheric carbon dioxide. When phytoplankton utilize carbon dioxide for photosynthesis, the carbon becomes a building block for organic matter, but the carbon leaks back into the atmosphere when predators consume the phytoplankton and respire carbon dioxide.

For the following question, consider each of the choices separately and select all that apply.

1. It can be inferred from the passage that Martin’s hypothesis includes which of the following elements?

A. A correct understanding of how phytoplankton photosynthesis utilizes carbon dioxide

B. A correct prediction about how the addition of iron to iron-poor waters would affect phytoplankton growth

C. An incorrect prediction about how phytoplankton growth would affect the concentration of atmospheric carbon dioxide

2. It can be inferred that the author of the passage mentions predators (line 10) primarily in order to

A. help explain why Martin’s hypothesis is incorrect

B. identify one effect of adding iron to iron-poor waters

C. indicate how some carbon dioxide is converted to solid organic matter

D. help account for differences in the density of phytoplankton between different regions of the ocean

E. point out a factor that was not anticipated by the scientists who conducted the field tests mentioned in the passage