GRE-TEST Online Practice Questions and Answers

In the late eighteenth and early nineteenth centuries, during the period of the American Revolution and the early republic, political poems appeared regularly in newspapers and pamphlets. commenting on the issues and controversies engaging the new nation. Given the sheer number of poems that engaged explicitly with politics, one might wonder why the form has remained largely ignored by scholars of early American literature even as many other once obscure forms-sentimental novels, diaries, travelogues, belles letters--have enjoyed unprecedented scholarly interest in recent decades. Part of the reason may stem from frustrations involved with reading poems that are so highly topical--often requiring, even as a condition of first-level comprehension, a familiarity with names and references that, while wholly recognizable in their own time, are obscure to modem readers. Yet beyond this is the fact that American political verse from the eighteenth and early nineteenth centuries has never fully shaken off the verdict, delivered by its earliest generation of scholarly readers. that it is simply unworthy of serious attention as literature. Even the term commonly used to describe it--"verse." as opposed to "poetry"-- suggests an occasional or forgettable, rather than enduring, form of expression, not quite deserving the designation of poetry. Nor was such verse considered by early critics as worthy of the designation "American." as the tendency of eighteenth-century American poets to model their works on those of British precursors suggested an unforgivable failure, as one critic described it. to declare their "literary independence" from Britain.

Though_________in his musical expression, the American jazz bassist and composer Charles Mingus

eventually developed a personal voice that proved to be much more than a simple mixture of jazz styles.

A. eclectic

B. idiosyncratic

C. uncompromising

D. virtuosic

E. wide-ranging

F. relentless

It is nn ironic reversal that just those politicians who most vociferously lambasted the distorting complexities of the country's tax system are now the ones_________an agreement that worsens the mess.

A. espousing

B. discounting

C. eschewing

D. championing

E. negotiating

F. ignoring

Recent research has questioned the long-standing view of pearly mussels as exclusively suspension feeders (animals that strain suspended particles from water) that subsist on phytoplankton (mostly algae). Early studies of mussel feeding were based on analyses of gut contents, a method that has three weaknesses. First, material in mucus-bound gut contents is difficult to identify and quantify. Second, material found in the gut may pass undigested out of the mussel, not contributing to its nutrition. Finally, examination of gut contents offers limited insight into the mechanisms and behaviors by which mussels acquire food. Modem studies suggest that pearly mussels feed on more than just algae and may use other means than suspension feeding. Pedal feeding (sweeping up edible material with a muscular structure called the foot) has been observed in juvenile pearly mussels.

Besides the phytoplankton pearly mussels capture from the water column, their guts also contain small animals, protozoans, and detritus (nonliving particulate organic material). Recent studies show that mussels can capture and assimilate bacteria as well, a potentially important source of food in many fresh waters. Another potential source of food for mussels is dissolved organic matter. Early studies showing that pearly mussels could take up simple organic compounds were largely discounted because such labile (unstable) compounds are rarely abundant in nature. Nevertheless, recent work on other bivalves suggests that dissolved organic matter may be a significant source of nutrition.

Of this complex mix of materials that pearly mussels acquire, what is actually required and assimilated? Stable-isotope analyses of mussels taken from nature and of captive-reared mussels are beginning to offer some insight into this question. Nichols and Garling showed that pearly mussels in a small river were omnivorous, subsisting mainly on particles less than 2S micrometers in diameter, including algae, detritus, and bacteria. Bacterially derived carbon was apparently the primary source of soft-tissue carbon. However, bacteria alone cannot support mussel growth, because they lack the necessary long-chain fatty acids and sterols and are deficient in some amino acids. Bacteria may supplement other food resources, provide growth factors, or be the primary food In habitats such as headwater streams, where phytoplankton is scarce. Juvenile mussels have been most successfully reared m the laboratory on diets containing algae high in polyunsaturated fatty acids. Thus, it appears that the pearly mussel diet in nature may consist of algae, bacteria, detritus, and small animals and that at least some algae and bacteria may be required as a source of essential biochemicals.

Which of the following can be inferred from the passage about the research findings of Nichols and Garling?

A. They are based on analyses of gut contents of pearly mussels.

B. They suggest that pearly mussels are unable to assimilate bacteria.

C. They demonstrate the importance to pearly mussels of long-chain fatty acids.

D. They contradict the long-standing view mentioned at the beginning of the passage.

E. They shed light on a puzzling phenomenon detailed in the second paragraph.

Many environmentalists who revere nature would find the intellectual traditions of Rousseau. Kropotkin. and Jefterson much more compatible with their vision than that of Marx, who_________the domination of nature by humans.

A. abhorred

B. underestimated

C. revealed

D. distrusted

E. commended

Which of die following is a reasoning error committed by the argument?

A. It contuses being the first to discover a method of achieving a certain goal with being the first to publish that method.

B. It treats a condition that is necessary* to achieve a certain goal as though it were sufficient to achieve that goal.

C. It supposes that if something is essential to one way of achieving a certain goal, then it is essential to any way of achieving that goal.

D. It fails to distinguish adequately between methods of achieving a certain goal available at one time and methods of achieving that goal available at another time.

E. It claims that a person who did not originate a method for achieving a certain goal would not understand that method.

In the xy-plane, line K passes through points (-2. 6) and (4.3). What is the y -intercept of line K ?

A. 4.0

B. 4.5

C. 5.0

D. 5.2

E. 5.5

Exhibit.

A. Quantity A is greater.

B. Quantity B is greater.

C. The two quantities are equal.

D. The relationship cannot be determined from the information given.

A group of children is divided into r teams of ~ players each, and 1 team of 10 players. The group has more than 30 but less than 50 children, and each child belongs to only one team.

A. Quantity A is greater.

B. Quantity B is greater.

C. The two quantities are equal.

D. The relationship cannot be determined from the information given.

In the figure shown. ABCD is a square and E. F. G.and H are the midpoints of ihe respective sides. If AD = I, what is the sum of the areas of the shaded regions? Give your answer as a fraction.

A. see the answer in explanation part

If n is a positive integer such that 51 is a factor of //. which of the following could be the units digit of n ? Indicate all such digits.

A. 0

B. 1

C. 2

D. 3

E. 4

F. 5

G. 6

H. 7

I. 8