T he r eader ’

TEST A
 
Read the following passage about a Harvard professor turned Western guru. Then, answer the 
multiple-choice questions that follow. 
Ram Dass came to fame and infamy in the ‘60s. He was Richard Alpert, the Harvard 
psychology professor who was ousted from the university with Timothy Leary in1963 for 
experimenting with LSD. After that he went to India and came back a spiritual teacher, a 
Western messenger of Eastern wisdom. Charismatic, a great storyteller, a born teacher, he wrote 
books, traveled the world, and created organizations to help prison inmates, the aging, and the 
dying, and to promote awareness of environmental issues. He had the good life, doing good 
work and playing golf, dashing around in his MG sports car. 
Then, at 65, in February 1997, he had a stroke. He lost his ability to speak or to 
understand words, and his right side was paralyzed. Doctors gave him a 10 percent chance of 
surviving and were waiting for him to die–until one of them went into his room to examine him, 
saw something in his eyes, came out and tore up the prognosis. A team mobilized to fight for his 
life. Three and a half years since that crisis, Ram Dass is teaching again.
“Most of us assume that aging is the end of growth–but you begin with the idea that it is 
an opportunity for growth. It’s the greatest learning we have. All our old desires are off our 
backs, finally. And we are silent inside. For old people to hear their own wisdom, they have to 
experience their own silence. This culture sees life as collecting experiences. But aging is an 
emptying out and beginning to experience the moment.
[Gross, Amy. “Ram Dass.”
Modern Maturity
, July-August, 2000, p. 13.] 
1. It is implied that experimenting with LSD in 1963 was 
A. acceptable. 
B. legal. 
C. unethical. 
2. We can infer from the passage that Ram Dass spent his life 
A. experimenting with drugs. 
B. helping people. 
C. traveling the world. 

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20 Chapter 5, Inference 
3. It is suggested in the passage that while Dass was dying, the doctors 
A. didn’t help him. 
B. saw that Ram Dass had a will to live. 
C. panicked. 
4. We can conclude that Ram Dass believes that we find wisdom 
A. only in India. 
B. at Harvard University. 
C. in silence. 
Read the following passage and answer the multiple-choice questions that follow. 
Most preadolescent girls are marvelous company because they are interested in 
everything–sports, nature, people, music and books. Almost all the heroines of girls’ literature 
come from this age group–Anne of Green Gables, Heidi, and Caddie Woodlawn. Girls this age 
bake pies, solve mysteries and go on quests. They can take care of themselves and are not yet 
burdened with caring for others. They have a brief respite from the female role and can be
“tomboys,” a word that conveys courage, competency and irreverence. 
Girls between seven and eleven rarely go to therapy. It’s amazing how little help these 
girls need to heal and move on. Something dramatic happens to girls, however, in early 
adolescence. Studies show that girls’ IQ scores drop and their math and science scores plummet. 
They lose their resiliency and optimism and become less curious and inclined to take risks.
They report great unhappiness with their own bodies. They lose their assertive energetic and 
tomboyish personalities and become more deferential, self-critical and depressed.
The story of Ophelia, from Shakespeare’s 
Hamlet
, shows the destructive forces that affect 
young women. As a girl, Ophelia is happy and free, but with adolescence she loses herself.
When she falls in love with Hamlet, she lives only for his approval. She has no inner direction.
Her value is determined utterly by his approval. Ophelia is torn apart by her efforts to please.
When Hamlet spurns her because she is an obedient daughter, she goes mad with grief. Dressed 
in elegant clothes that weigh her down, she drowns in a stream filled with flowers. 
[Pipher, Mary.
Reviving Ophelia.
New York: Ballantine Books, 1994, pp. 18-20.] 
5. It is suggested by the passage that girls who are 12 and older 
A. are no longer happy and free. 
B. will eventually kill themselves. 
C. solve mysteries and go on quests. 
 

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Chapter 5, Inference 21 
6. It can be inferred from the passage that 
A. Hamlet loves Ophelia deeply. 
B. Ophelia was unstable since childhood. 
C. Ophelia was going through a crisis during female adolescence. 
7. The word spurns in the passage most nearly means 
A. rejects. 
B. accepts. 
C. temporarily ignores. 
8. The author makes her point by using which of the following? 
A. contrast 
B. listing 
C. example 
Read the following passage regarding architecture instruction and training and answer the 
multiple-choice questions that follow. 
Architects and educators have long disagreed about which skills should be taught in 
architecture schools and which are best taught later, during apprenticeships. Professors typically 
emphasize design and theory, believing that the more practical skills are better conveyed in a 
professional context. Meanwhile, practitioners complain that recent graduates come to them 
unprepared for real work. 
This disagreement has now expanded to include computer skills. Many schools now 
teach 3D modeling in design studios, but some are dabbling in still more cutting-edge processes. 
While a student at the University of Oregon, Francis Dardis developed techniques for generating 
unusual and imaginative imagery. He began with a physical model of a simple concept. Then he 
placed the model on a scanner and created a 2D image, which he would subject to a variety of 
Adobe PhotoShop “filters.” The results inspired new design ideas, which were then sketched and 
scanned. In the end, Dardis came up with not only a credible project but also imagery that 
exceeds typical student projects.
Interns are entering firms with computer-aided design (CAD) skills that far outstrip those 
of their employers. That’s because some architecture schools have incorporated new digital 
technologies in such radical ways that the curriculum is being transformed. Michael Dingeldein, 
a teacher at Miami University, is a proponent of such advanced study. “Working with 3D 
modeling software makes the students better 3D thinkers.”