This reading text applies for question no. 1 - 10
"The evolution of the banana, star of the Western fruit bowl" By Rosie Mestel
Did you hear? The genome of the banana has been sequenced, an important development in scientist's efforts to produce better bananas.
A look at that genome has revealed curious things, said Pat Heslop-Harrison, a plant geneticist at the University of Leicester in England who was a coauthor of the report published this week in the journal Nature.
For example, there are regions of the banana genome that don't seem to be involved in making proteins but are shared by many different species of plants, far beyond bananas. What, he wonders, are they doing?
There are remnants of bits of banana streak virus spliced into the banana genome (too broken-up to cause disease, however).
There are whole sets of DNA repeats that plants normally have but bananas do not. And, intriguingly, three times since this genus of giant herbs took an evolutionary turn away from its relatives -- the grasses -- it has duplicated its entire set of chromosomes.
Two of the doublings took place at the Cretaceous-Tertiary boundary 65 million years ago, back when the dinosaurs and lots of other species went extinct, Heslop-Harrison noted.
Duplications like this are known to have happened in other plant groups at this same time but haven't occurred since, Heslop-Harrison said. Scientists don't know why, but they believe having extra copies of genes may have imparted some stability to plants during a time of rapid climate change after an asteroid hit Earth.
Having more than one gene of each type means that if one gene of a set loses function, the plant still has another one that works. And there's more room for adaptability to new circumstances, because one gene could be altered and co-opted for new purposes and there would still be the other one left to perform the original job.
"Perhaps it's the reason [bananas have] done so well in the subsequent millions of years," Heslop-Harrison said. "One can ask, will changes occurring in the world's climate now mean there's going to be a whole set of new genome duplications that will enable plants to survive? We don't know that, but it's interesting to consider."
The banana genome sequenced by the French scientists was from the Pahang, a wild Malaysian banana of the species Musa acuminata. It's a key species in the complicated evolution of the bananas and plantains people eat around the world, including the Cavendish banana that we buy at the supermarket.
The sterile Cavendish is a so-called triploid: It has three sets of chromosomes instead of the normal two. One of those genomes came from Pahang. The others came from other subspecies of Musa acuminata.
The changes occurred stepwise, and went something like this:
- Thousands of years ago, two wild banana species from different parts of the islands of Southeast Asia were brought into the same range by people. They formed hybrids. A bit like mules, the hybrids were vigorous but fairly sterile.
- The hybrids were kept going without sex through propagation of their shoots.
- At some point, the hybrids developed the ability to set fruit without being fertilized.
- Then (for most bananas, including the Cavendish) came another chance event that caused the hybrids to end up with three sets of chromosomes. Every now and again, the few viable eggs and pollen that they made would mistakenly contain two sets of chromosomes instead of just one.
When a double-chromosome pollen combined with a single-chromosome egg (or vice versa), the result was a hopelessly sterile plant with even more vigorous fruit.
Events like this happened more than once and sometimes included other types of ancestral banana species.
Some scientists, in fact, have made a whole study of banana domestication and movement around the world. They've pieced the story together using quite different strands of information, including the genomes of wild and cultivated bananas, the microscopic relics of banana leaf material found at archaeological sites, and even the word for "banana" in different languages.
1. In paragraph 2, the word "curious" is closest in meaning to...
A. inquisitive
B. peculiar
C. nosy
D. intricate
2. What does paragraph 5 suggest about bananas?
A. The banana genus may not yet be classifiable into a traditional category
B. Bananas are actually a species of grass
C. Bananas may now be categorized as "herbs" in supermarkets
D. Because banana chromosomes duplicate themselves, they have better potential for successful cloning
3. Why does the author use "intriguingly" to describe the phenomenon in paragraph 5?
A. To imply that bananas are far more interesting than other fruits
B. To make readers doubt the claims scientists are making about bananas
C. To suggest that duplication of chromosomes is a rare and interesting occurrence in the plant world
D. To encourage questions about whether bananas are grasses or herbs
4. Why is the observation in paragraph 6 important?
A. It suggests that the banana mutated its genetic structure for survival
B. It shows that bananas can be traced as far back as dinosaurs
C. It suggests that bananas were fatal to dinosaurs and other species
D. It proves that bananas are immune to atmospheric changes
5. The word "co-opted" in paragraph 8 is closest in meaning to...
A. decided upon together
B. argued against
C. removed from the study
D. adopted
6. The quote in paragraph 9 most closely suggests...
A. Bananas may be an example of ways that species might alter their genetics to survive changes in the earth's climate and atmosphere
B. That the genetic mutations of bananas have no implications for other species
C. That genetic structure is the only factor that should be considered when predicting survival
D. Though bananas have made it this far, there is no proof that they will survive the next wave of significant atmospheric changes.
7. According to the article, all are steps in the evolution of the banana EXCEPT...
A. Some banana hybrids began to develop three sets of chromosomes
B. The merging of two different banana species
C. Bananas reproduced widely and easily through fertilization
D. Bananas developed the ability to develop fruit without fertilization
8. The word "chance" in paragraph 16 is closest in meaning to...
A. random
B. gamble
C. risky
D. opportune
9. All are variations of banana mentioned in the article EXCEPT...
A. the Cavendish
B. Dolus mundi
C. Musa acuminata
D. plantains
10. The word "domestication" in the final paragraph is closest in meaning to...
A. housebroken
B. well-controlled
C. adapted for human consumption
D. accepted within the culture
This reading text applies for question no. 11 - 20
"Excerpted from What Video Games Have to Teach us about Learning and Literacy" by James Paul Gee
When people learn to play video games, they are learning a new literacy. Of course, this is not the way the word "literacy" is normally used. Traditionally, people think of literacy as the ability to read and write. Why, then, should we think of literacy more broadly, in regard to video games or anything else, for that matter? There are two reasons.
First, in the modern world, language is not the only important communicational system. Today images, symbols, graphs, diagrams, artifacts, and many other visual symbols are particularly significant. Thus, the idea of different types of "visual literacy" would seem to be an important one. For example, being able to "read" the images in advertising is one type of visual literacy. And, of course, there are different ways to read such images, ways that are more or less aligned with the intentions and interests of the advertisers. Knowing how to read interior designs in homes, modernist art in museums, and videos on MTV are other forms of visual literacy.
Furthermore, very often today words and images of various sorts are juxtaposed and integrated in a variety of ways. In newspaper and magazines as well as in textbooks, images take up more and more of the space alongside words. In fact, in many modern high school and college textbooks in the sciences images not only take up more space, they now carry meanings that are independent of the words in the text. If you can't read these images, you will not be able to recover their meanings from the words in the text as was more usual in the past. In such multimodal texts (texts that mix words and images), the images often communicate different things from the words. And the combination of the two modes communicates things that neither of the modes does separately. Thus, the idea of different sorts of multimodal literacy seems an important one. Both modes and multimodality go far beyond images and words to include sounds, music, movement, bodily sensations, and smells.
None of this news today, of course. We very obviously live in a world awash with images. It is our first answer to the question why we should think of literacy more broadly. The second answer is this: Even though reading and writing seem so central to what literacy means traditionally, reading and writing are not such general and obvious matters as they might at first seem. After all, we never just read or write; rather, we always read or write something in some way.
So there are different ways to read different types of texts. Literacy is multiple, then, in the sense that the legal literacy needed for reading law books is not the same as the literacy needed for reading physics texts or superhero comic books. And we should not be too quick to dismiss the latter form of literacy. Many a superhero comic is replete with post-Freudian irony of a sort that would make a modern literary critic's heart beat fast and confuse any otherwise normal adult. Literacy, then, even as traditionally conceived to involve only print, is not a unitary thing but a multiple matter. There are, even in regard to printed texts and even leaving aside images and multimodal texts, different "literacies."
Once we see this multiplicity of literacy (literacies), we realize that when we think about reading and writing, we have to think beyond print. Reading and writing in any domain, whether it is law, rap songs, academic essays, superhero comics, or whatever, are not just ways of decoding print, they are also caught up with and in social practices... Video games are a new form of art. They will not replace books; they will sit beside them, interact with them, and change them and their role in society in various ways, as, indeed, they are already doing strongly with movies. (Today many movies are based on video games and many more are influenced by them.) We have no idea yet how people "read" video games, what meanings they make from them. Still less do we know how they will "read" them in the future.
11. According to the first paragraph, the broadest definition of "literacy" is...
A. The ability to analyze literature
B. The ability comprehend basic cultural cues
C. The ability to read and write
D. The ability to compose poetry
12. All are mentioned as being types of "visual literacy" EXCEPT...
A. Musical tones
B. Interior Design
C. Diagrams
D. Modern Art
13. An example from a science textbook of the phenomenon the author describes in the third paragraph could be...
A. A genetic tree that coincides with the discussion of specific mammal classes in the text
B. A diagram of a specific chemical reaction that is used to explain a broad definition in the text
C. An illustration of a plant cycle that accompanies a chapter on photosynthesis
D. A cartoon that references the same methods discussed in the text about laboratory safety
14. What is an example of a "multimodal" text?
A. A dictionary
B. A movie script
C. A photo album
D. An art book that describes the art as well as reproduces images of the original prints
15. The idiom in the sixth paragraph, "read against the grain of the text" is closest in meaning to...
A. Reading to understand the underlying meanings and themes of the author's words-not just a literal interpretation
B. Reading text that defines different types of wheat and grains
C. To read the text from right to left rather than left to right
D. To read books that use recycled paper and other green alternatives
16. In the seventh paragraph, the author suggests that literacy is multiple, meaning that...
A. To be "literate" can mean participating in any form of expression
B. One's literacy increases exponentially as greater mastery of reading and writing is achieved
C. Different genres and modes of expression require different background knowledge and perspectives to understand them
D. Literacy can only be gained by exploring every type of media and expression
17. Why does the author give the example of superhero comics to explain multiple literacies?
A. To explain that comic books are written for children and purely for entertainment. They require only a basic knowledge of the action that occurs in the story
B. To once again refer to his earlier points about "multimodal" texts
C. To insist that even when an author may intend multiple meanings and interpretations, they are rarely successful in conveying those to readers
D. Things that may seem on the surface to be only meant for a particular group of people can actually have very profound meanings to those who possess other types of literacy
18. The author suggests that all of the following require different types of literacy and the ability to decode meaning EXCEPT...
A. Rap music
B. Comic books
C. Academic papers
D. Symphonies
19. The author says that video games...
A. Are not yet entirely understood in terms of literacy, but are already impacting other forms of expression such as filmmaking
B. Are unrealistic and should not fall into the same categories as the other texts he describes
C. Are too violent to risk experimenting with for the purposes of understanding literacy
D. Are irrelevant in academic discussion because no one has yet determined how to explain the ways that people understand them
20. What would be the most logical information for the next paragraph to contain if the article continued?
A. A technological definition of video games, how they are made, and how they are played
B. A historical explanation of the very first video game and its evolution
C. Examples of the way that some people currently interpret video games and what they mean to them
D. A price comparison of video game consoles and whether or not quality has a direct impact on literacy
This reading text applies for question no. 21 - 25
"Research: Change in walking may indicate cognitive decline" By Janice Lloyd
Subtle changes in the way a person walks can be an early warning sign of cognitive decline and a signal for advanced testing, according to research out at the Alzheimer's Association International Conference 2012.
The findings are the first to link a physical symptom to disease, which up until now, required doctors to begin a diagnosis by focusing on cognition and administering lengthy neurological exams. The evidence in the five studies is "robust," say experts, adding walking changes can occur even before cognition decline surfaces. The presentation on the opening day of the weeklong meetings follows a government plan announced in May to help train doctors to detect the disease earlier and to find a cure by 2025.
"Monitoring deterioration and other changes in a person's gait is ideal because it doesn't require any expensive technology or take a lot of time to assess,'' says Bill Thies, chief medical and scientific officer for the Alzheimer's Association.
The disease affects 5.4 million mostly older people in the USA, numbers expected to spike to 16 million in 2050 as the Baby Boomers age. Nearly 5,000 researchers are attending the meetings in Vancouver, where dozens of studies will address new treatments currently being tested in trials and how lifestyle influences the disease.
"Walking and movements require a perfect and simultaneous integration of multiple areas of the brain,'' says Rodolfo Savica, author of a study done at the Mayo Clinic in Rochester, Minn.
Walking changes occur because the disease interferes with the circuitry between these areas of brain. Savica ruled out other diseases (Parkinson's, arthritis) as possible causes of gait change.
In the Mayo Clinic study, researchers measured the stride length, cadence and velocity of more than 1,341 participants through a computerized gait instrument at two or more visits roughly 15 months apart. They found that study participants with lower cadence, velocity and length of stride experienced significantly larger declines in global cognition, memory and executive function.
"These changes support a possible role of gait changes as an early predictor of cognitive impairment,'' Savica says.
Another large study of 1,153 adults with a mean age of 78 done by researchers at the Basel Mobility Center in Basel Switzerland found gait became "slower and more variable as cognition decline progressed.''
Participants were divided into groups based on their cognitive diagnoses: cognitively healthy, mild cognitive impairment (MCI) or Alzheimer's dementia. Gait was measured using a walkway with nearly 30,000 integrated sensors.
"Those with Alzheimer's dementia walked slower than those with MCI, who in turn walked slower that those who were cognitively healthy,'' says Stephanie Bridenbaugh, lead researcher.
Bridenbaugh says analysis of walking could also be used to show if treatments to treat the disease are working.
"At the annual wellness visit required by Medicare, a physician could add a walking test to the checklist without adding a lot of extra time,'' says Thies.
Yet, one of the study's researchers said that one annual test wouldn't work with everyone.
"You'd be surprised how many people say to me 'He doesn't walk that well at home,' when I give them a gait test in the office,'' says physician Lisa Silbert.
Silbert conducted research on 19 dementia-free volunteers enrolled in the Intelligent Systems for Assessment of Aging Changes study at Oregon Health and Science University in Portland. They measured gait speed during MRIs and gait speeds at home. Participants walked faster when measured once in person than when walking in their home. Slower in-home walking speed was associated with smaller total brain size. Dementias cause brain shrinkage.
"Walking speed taken at a single time point may overestimate the walking abilities in the elderly,'' she says.
21. The word "robust" in paragraph 2 is closest in meaning to...
A. durable
B. healthy
C. full-bodied
D. strong
22. Why is the statistic in paragraph 4 about the potential spike in Alzheimer's patients significant?
A. It shows that, because Alzheimer's primarily impacts older people, as largest generation (the Baby Boomers) ages, the number of cases will likely rise dramatically
B. It suggests that if the next generation wants to be healthy, they must have their gait tested now
C. It is of no real concern to the younger generation because Social Security will pay for medical care
D. The lifestyle of older generations is significantly poorer than that of younger generations
23. What is the most significant discovery of the Mayo Clinic study described in paragraph 7?
A. Cadence, velocity, and length of stride are all independent variables that impact cognitive function in different ways.
B. The slower the participant's walk, the greater their memory capacity
C. The pace of participant's walk demonstrated no correlation to brain activity
D. The ways in which the participants walked had a definitive relationship to cognitive functioning
24. Throughout the article, "gait" is mostly often used to refer to...
A. walking speed
B. the time it takes to transition from a walk to a run
C. a combination of cadence, length of stride, and velocity
D. the posture used while walking
25. What best summarizes the overarching idea of the article?
A. The speed at which we walk and potential decline in cognitive function as we age is clearly proven by the studies presented in the article
B. Whatever your current walking speed is, the better shape you are in and the faster you become can both directly lower your chance of developing Alzheimer's
C. Annual gait tests are an expensive and ineffective test to add to Alzheimer's screenings
D. There is a definite probability that aspects of human gait and cognitive function are related, but the evidence is far from definitive.
Answer :
- B
- A
- C
- A
- D
- A
- C
- A
- B
- C
- C
- A
- B
- D
- A
- C
- D
- D
- A
- C
- D
- A
- D
- C
- D
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