SAT SAT-Critical-Reading Actual Tests : Section One : Critical Reading

(1) An incredible hot-air balloon exhibition happened on September 5, 1862.
(2) It was given by Glaisher and Coxwell, two Englishmen.
(3) There was no compressed oxygen for them to breathe in those days.
(4) They got so high that they couldn't use their limbs.
(5) Coxwell had to open the descending valve with his teeth.
(6) Before Glaisher passed out, he recorded an elevation of twenty- nine thousand feet.
(7) Many believe they got eight thousand feet higher before they began to descend, making their ascent
the highest in the nineteenth century.
(8) Now the largest balloon to go up in the nineteenth century was "The Giant."
(9) The balloon held 215,000 cubic feet of air and was 74 feet wide.
(10) It could carry four and a half tons of cargo.
(11) Its flight began in Paris, in 1853, with fifteen passengers.
(12) All of whom returned safely.
(13) The successful trip received a great deal of national and international press because many thought
the hot- air balloon would become a form of common transportation.
Which of the following is the best way to combine sentences 9 and 10? The balloon held 215,000 cubic
feet of air and was 74 feet wide. It could handle four and a half tons of cargo.

• A. The balloon held 215,000 cubic feet of air and was 74 feet wide, and it could handle four and a half
  tons of cargo.
• B. The balloon held 215,000 cubic feet of air and was 74 feet wide, but it could carry four and a half tons of
  cargo
• C. The balloon held 215,000 cubic feet of air and was 74 feet wide; it could handle four and a half tons of
  cargo.
• D. The balloon held 215,000 cubic feet of air and was 74 feet wide, handling four and a half tons of cargo.
• E. The balloon held 215,000 cubic feet of air and was 74 feet wide, which could handle four and a half
  tons of cargo.

Herbert had none of the social graces; he was appallingly ----.

• A. unfettered
• B. uncluttered
• C. uncouth
• D. underrated
• E. unlimbered

The bright coloration of American coot chicks is an anomaly: although colorful plumage is usually ______
to newborn birds because it may attract predators, among this species it appears to be ______, because
parents are more likely to notice and care for brightly-colored offspring.

• A. pernicious . . fatal
• B. beneficial . . advantageous
• C. dangerous . . unnecessary
• D. deleterious . . favorable
• E. detrimental . . helpful

The small hive beetle, Aethina tumida (Order Caleoptera; Family Nitidulidae), was first discovered in
Florida in June of 1998 and has now been found in six other states, George, South Carolina, North
Carolina, Pennsylvania, Ohio, and Minnesota. To date, the beetle has not been found in Virginia, but the
movement of migratory beekeepers from Florida may have transported the beetle to other states. Recent
finding also indicate transport of the beetles in packages. The small hive beetle can be a destructive pest
of honey bee colonies, causing damage to comp, stored honey, and pollen. If a beetle infestation is
sufficiently heavy, they may cause bees to abandon their hive. The beetles can also be a pest of stored
combs and honey (in the comb) awaiting extraction. Beetle larvae may tunnel through combs of honey,
causing discoloration and fermentation of honey.
This passage was most likely written to

• A. inform beekeepers about a menace that may be contaminating their hives
• B. warn consumers that the price of honey is likely to raise
• C. help customers understand how difficult it is to raise commercial honey
• D. convince the Pure Food and Drug Administration to take the problem more seriously
• E. spark a federal bailout of the industry

Pauline Johnson (18611913) was the daughter of Mohawk leader George Henry Martin; her mother was
English. Johnson was known in her time as a poet and performer. For years she toured throughout
Canada giving dramatic readings. Late in her life she turned to writing short stories. This excerpt is from
"A Red Girl's Reasoning," first published in 1893.
How interesting--do tell us some more of your old home, Mrs. McDonald; you so seldom speak of your life
at the post, and we fellows so often wish to hear of it all," said Logan eagerly.
"Why do you not ask me of it, then?" "Well--er, I'm sure I don't know; I'm fully interested in the Ind --in your
people--your mother's people, I mean, but it always seems so personal, I suppose; and --a --a--" "Perhaps
you are, like all other white people, afraid to mention my nationality to me." The captain winced, and Mrs.
Stuart laughed uneasily. Joe McDonald was not far off, and he was listening, and chuckling, and saying to
himself, "That's you, Christie, lay `em out; it won't hurt `em to know how they appear once in a while."
"Well, Captain Logan," she was saying, "what is it you would like to hear--of my people, or my parents, or
myself?" "All, all, my dear," cried Mrs. Stuart clamorously. "I'll speak for him--tell us of yourself and your
mother--your father is delightful, I am sure--but then he is only an ordinary Englishman, not half so
interesting as a foreigner, or--or perhaps I should say, a native."
Christie laughed. "Yes," she said, "my father often teases my mother now about how very native she was
when he married her; then, how could she have been otherwise? She did not know a word of English, and
there was not another English-speaking person besides my father and his two companions within sixty
miles." "Two companions, eh? One a Catholic priest and the other a wine merchant, I suppose, and with
your father in the Hudson Bay, they were good representatives of the pioneers in the New World,"
remarked Logan waggishly.
"Oh, no, they were all Hudson Bay men. There were no rumsellers and no missionaries in that part of the
country then." Mrs. Stuart looked puzzled. "No missionaries?" she repeated with an odd intonation.
Christie's insight was quick. There was a peculiar expression of interrogation in the eyes of her listeners,
and the girl's blood leapt angrily up into her temples as she said hurriedly, "I know what you mean; I know
what you are thinking. You are wondering how my parents were married --"
"Well--er, my dear, it seems peculiar if there was no priest, and no magistrate, why--a--" Mrs. Stuart
paused awkwardly.
"The marriage was performed by Indian rites," said Christie. "Oh, do tell about it; is the ceremony very
interesting and quaint--are your chieftains anything like Buddhist priests?" It was Logan who spoke.
"Why, no," said the girl in amazement at that gentleman's ignorance. "There is no ceremony at all, save a
feast. The two people just agree to live only with and for each other, and the man takes his wife to his
home, just as you do. There is no ritual to bind them; they need none; an Indian's word was his law in
those days, you know."
Mrs. Stuart stepped backwards. "Ah!" was all she said. Logan removed his eyeglass and stared blankly at
Christie. "And did McDonald marry you in this singular fashion?" he questioned. "Oh, no, we were married
by Father O'Leary. Why do you ask?"
"Because if he had, I'd have blown his brains out tomorrow." Mrs. Stuart's partner, who had heretofore
been silent, coughed and began to twirl his cuff stud nervously, but nobody took notice of him. Christie
had risen, slowly, ominously--risen, with the dignity and pride of an empress.
"Captain Logan," she said, "what do you dare to say to me? What do you dare to mean? Do you presume
to think it would not have been lawful for Joe to marry me according to my people's rites? Do you for one
instant dare to question that my parents were not as legally--"
"Don't, dear, don't," interrupted Mrs. Stuart hurriedly, "it is bad enough now, goodness knows; don't
make--" Then she broke off blindly.
Mrs. Stuart's "odd intonation" apparently results from

• A. ignorance and lack of vocabulary
• B. her alarm at Christie's words
• C. a sudden loss of the powers of speech
• D. an inability to pronounce the words she is saying
• E. her anger at Logan's implications