Act Reading Humanities

The passage is best described as being told from the point of view of a philosopher who is:

• discussing metaphysical questions that have troubled philosophers since the time of Descartes

• presenting in chronological order the key events in his thirty-year professional career.

• reflecting on his own early, developing interest in philosophy and in scholarship generally

• advising professional educators on how to get more students to study philosophy.

In the third paragraph (lines 36–56), the author most nearly characterizes the energy he refers to as:

• potent yet difficult to channel in a constructive way.

• powerful and typically leading to destructive results.

• delicate and inevitably wasted in trivial undertakings.

• gentle yet capable of uniting people who have different interests.

Viewed in the context of the passage, the statement in lines 55–56 is most likely intended to suggest that:

• schools should require students to take philosophy courses

• students can become passionate when learning about science in school.

• schools need to keep searching for ways to tap into students’ deeply held interests

• students should resolve to take school courses that interest them.

The author calls pen and paper “rudimentary tools” (line 80) as part of his argument that:

• the use of computers has made the use of pen and paper obsolete.

• students should become skilled with pen and paper before moving on to better tools.

• while writing with pen and paper can be pleasant, it can also be physically painful.

• although seemingly simple, pen and paper allow people to perform great feats.

In the context of the passage, lines 17–23 are best described as presenting images of:

• gloom, tension, and fascination

• anger, bitterness, and betrayal.

• stillness, peacefulness, and relaxation.

• frustration, surprise, and satisfaction.

It can be reasonably inferred from the passage that the author would agree that the word good actually means:

• measurable.

• significant.

• persistent.

• practical.

The main idea of the sixth paragraph (lines 63–69) is that:

• it is irrelevant for a mother to inquire if her baby

  has been well-behaved or not.

• a baby has not been alive long enough to be judged

  as either good or bad.

• since the baby is so young, it is not judged as good

  by what it does, but rather what it does not do.

• whether or not a baby has been crying is not a

  significant standard upon which to determine its

  goodness.

The author of the passage asserts that the weather and a knife are similar because:

• both are defined as good if and only if they can be

  helpful to many people for a variety of reasons.

• neither can be defined as good unless they remain

  consistent and unchanged in the wake of fluctuating

  circumstances.

• both are defined as good when their characteristics

  serve appropriate external circumstances.

• neither one can be good unless a universal definition

  of the concept is accepted.

As it is used in line 70, the word lucidly most nearly means:

• obscurely.

• inappropriately.

• enthusiastically.

• coherently.

The author argues that a knife may be described as good:

• only if it cuts wood.

• only if it is made for something other than cutting.

• only as it relates to something other than itself.

• only if it requires extra effort in its use.