Vocabulary Test...

[passage-header]This passage is adapted from Richard J. Sharpe and Lisa Heyden,2009 by Elsevier Ltd. [/passage-header]Honey Bee Colony Collapse Disorder is possibly caused by a Dietary Pyrethrum Deficiency.Colony collapse disorder is characterized by the disappearance of adult worker bees from hives. 94316Honey bees are hosts to the pathogenic large ectoparasitic mite Varroa destructor (Varroa mites).62454 These mites feed on bee hemolymph (blood) and can kill bees directly or by increasing their susceptibility to secondary infection with fungi, bacteria or viruses.99718
89619Little is known about the natural defenses that keep the mite infections under control.85867 Pyrethrums are a group of flowering plants which include Chrysanthemum coccineum, Chrysanthemum cinerariifolium, Chrysanthemum marschalli, and related species. These plants produce potent insecticides with anti-mite activity. The naturally occurring insecticides are known as pyrethrums. A synonym for the naturally occurring pyrethrums is pyrethrin and synthetic analogues of pyrethrums are known as pyrethroids.28759 In fact, the human mite infestation known as scabies (Sarcoptes scabiei) is treated with a topical pyrethrum cream.60409 [passage-footer]Adapted from Diana L. Cox-Foster et al., A Metagenomic Survey of Microbes in Honey Bee Colony Collapse Disorder. 2007 by American Association for the Advancement of Science.[/passage-footer]

       [A street in London]
Enter LORD MAYOR (Sir Roger Otley) and EARL OF LINCOLN
LINC: My Lord Mayor, you have sundry times
feasted myself, and many courtiers more;
Seldom or never can we be so king
To make requital of your courtesy.
But, leaving this, I hear my cousin Lacy
Is much affected to your daughter Rose.
L. MAYOR: True, My good Lord, and she loves him so well
That I mislike her boldness in the chase.
LINC: Why, my Lord Mayor, think you it then a
shame
To join a Lacy with an Otley's name?
L. MAYOR: Too mean is my poor girl for his high
birth;
Poor citizens must not with courtiers wed,
Who will in silks and gay apparel spend
More in one year than I am worth by far;
Therefore your honour need not doubt my girl.
LINC: Take heed, my Lord, advise you what you do;
A verier unthrift lives not in the world
Than is my cousin; for I'll tell you what,
'Tis now almost a year since he requested
To travel countries for experience;
I furnish'd him with coin, bills of exchange,
Letters of credit, men to wait on him,
Solicited my friends in Italy
Well to respect him; but to see the end:
Scant had he journey'd through half Germany
But all his coin was spent, his men cast off, 
His bills embezzl'd, and my jolly coz,
Asham'd to show his bankrupt presence here,
Became a shoemaker in Wittenberg.
99804A goodly science for a gentleman
Of such descent!78796 Now judge the rest by this:
Suppose your daughter have a thousand pound,
He did consume me more in one half-year:
And make him heir to all the wealth you have,
One twelvemonth's rioting will wast it all.
Then seek, my Lord, some honest citizen
To wed your daughter to.
L.MAYOR: I thank your lordship.
(Aside) 64980Well, fox, I understand your subtlety.
As for your nephew, let your lordship's eye
But watch his actions, and you need not fear,
For I have sent my daughter far enough.
And yet your cousin Rowland might do well
Now he hath learn'd an occupation;
(Aside.) And yet I scorn to call him son-in-law.

LINC: Ay, but I have a better trade for him;
I thank His Grace he hath appointed him
Chief colonel of all those companies
Muster'd in London and the shires about
To serve His Highness in those wars of France.
See where he comes.

[passage-header]This passage is adapted from Carrie Chapman Catt's 1917 "Address to the United States Congress." Catt served as president of the National American Woman Suffrage Association; the closing arguments of her speech are excerpted below.[/passage-header]   Your party platforms have pledged woman suffrage. Then why not be honest, frank friends of our cause, adopt it in reality as your own, make it a party program and "fight with us"? As a party measure--a measure of all parties--why not put the amendment through Congress and the Legislatures? 57494We shall all be better friends, we shall have a happier nation, we women will be free to support loyally the party of our choice, and we shall be far prouder of our history89594.
   "77138There is one thing mightier than kings and armies"--aye, than Congress and political parties-- "the power of an idea when its time has come to move72572." The time for woman suffrage has come. The woman's hour has struck. If parties prefer to postpone action longer and thus do battle with this idea, they challenge the inevitable. The idea will not perish; the party which opposes it may. Every delay, every trick, every political dishonesty from now on will 33487antagonize the women of the land more and more, and 89420when the party or parties which have so delayed woman suffrage finally let it come, their sincerity will be doubted and their appeal to the new voters will be met with suspicion28207. This is the psychology of the situation. Can you afford the risk? Think it over.
   We know you will meet opposition. 99188There are a few "woman haters" left, a few "old males of the tribe," as Vance Thompson calls them73179, whose duty they believe it to be to keep women in the places they have carefully picked out for them. Treitschke, made world-famous by war literature, said some years ago, "Germany, which knows all about Germany and France, knows far better what is good for Alsace-Lorraine than that miserable people can possibly know." A few American Treitschkes we have who know better than women what is good for them. There are women, too ... But the world does not wait for such as these, nor does Liberty pause to heed the plaint of men and women with a grouch. She does not wait for those who have a special interest to serve, nor a selfish reason for depriving other people of freedom. Holding her torch aloft, Liberty is pointing the way onward and upward and saying to America, "Come."
   23976To you the supporters of our cause, in Senate and House, and the number is large, the suffragists of the nation express their grateful thanks33649. This address is not meant for you. We are more truly appreciative of all you have done than any words can express. We ask you to make a last, hard fight for the amendment during the present session. 40978Since last we asked a vote on this amendment your position has been fortified by the addition to suffrage territory of Great Britain, Canada, and New York24604.
   Some of you have been too indifferent to give more than casual attention to this question. 32158It is worthy of your immediate consideration--a question big enough to engage the attention of our Allies in war time, is too big a question for you to neglect16514...
   17943Gentlemen, we hereby petition you, our only designated representatives, to 37885redress our grievances by the immediate passage of the influence to secure its ratification in your own state15813, 50281in order that the women of our nation may be endowed with political freedom that our nation may resume its world leadership in democracy33481.
   45406Woman suffrage is coming--you know it. Will you, Honorable Senators and Members of the House of Representatives, help or hinder it?

"There Is No Frigate Like a Book"
There is no frigate like a book
To take us lands away,
Nor any coursers like a page
Of prancing poetry
This traverse may the poorest take
Without oppress of toll;
How frugal is the chariot
That bears a human soul!

[passage-header]This passage is adapted from Geoffrey Giller, "Long a Mystery, How 500-Meter-High Undersea Waves Form Is Revealed." 2014 by Scientific American.[/passage-header]   73738Some of the largest ocean waves in the world are nearly impossible to see13037. Unlike other large waves, these rollers called internal waves, do not ride the ocean surface. Instead, 61205they move underwater, undetectable without the use of satellite imagery or sophisticated monitoring equipment66855. Despite their hidden nature, internal waves are fundamental parts of ocean water dynamics, transferring heat to the ocean depths and bringing up cold water from below And they can reach staggering heights - some as tall as skyscrapers.
   Because these waves are involved in ocean mixing and thus the transfer of heat, understanding them is crucial to global climate modeling, says Tom Peacock, a researcher at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Most models fail to take internal waves into account. "51464If we want to have more and more accurate climate models, we have to be able to 96398capture processes such as this85920," Peacock says. Peacock and his colleagues tried to do just that. Their study published in November in Geophysical Research Letters focused on internal waves generated in the Luzon Strait, which separates Taiwan and the Philippines. 36782Internal waves in this region, thought to be some of the largest in the world, can reach about 500 meters high43292. "That's the same height as the Freedom Tower that's just been built in New York," Peacock says.
   16528Although scientists knew of this phenomenon in the South China Sea and beyond, they didn't know exactly how internal waves formed94538. To find out, Peacock and a team of researchers from M.I.T. and Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution worked with France's National Center for Scientific Research using a giant facility there called the Coriolis Platform. The rotating platform, about 15 meters (49.2 feet) in diameter, turns at variable speeds and can simulate Earth's rotation. It also has walls, which means scientists can fill it with water and create accurate, large-scale simulations of various oceanographic scenarios.
   Peacock and his team built a carbon-fiber resin scale model of the Luzon Strait, including the islands and surrounding ocean floor topography. Then they filled the platform with water of varying salinity to replicate the different densities found at the strait, with denser, saltier water below and lighter, less briny water above. Small particles were added to the solution and illuminated with lights from below in order to track how the liquid moved. Finally, they re-created tides using two large plungers to see how the internal waves themselves formed.
   The Luzon Strait's underwater topography, with a distinct double-ridge shape, turns out to be responsible for generating the underwater waves. 69817As the tide rises and falls and water moves through the strait, colder, denser water is pushed up over the ridges into warmer, less dense layers above it28633.
   This action results in bumps of colder water trailed by warmer water that generate an internal wave. 12531As these waves move toward land, they become steeper - much the same way waves at the beach become taller before they hit the shore - until they break on a continental shelf19132.
   The researchers were also able to 92527devise a mathematical model that describes the movement and formation of these waves. 61484Whereas the model is specific to the Luzon Strait, it can still help researchers understand how internal waves are generated in other places around the world22111. 

[passage-header]The following passage explores the history and impact of public higher education in the United States.[/passage-header]Every year, hundreds of thousands of students graduate from U.S.public universities. Many of the largest and most elite schools in the nation fall into the category of public, or state, institutions. Unlike private universities, which generally operate independently from any government influence, public higher education was established through government legislation and is sustained through state or federal involvement in various ways. 

[passage-header]Read the passage given below and answer the question that follows:[/passage-header]This passage is adapted from MacDonald Harris, The Balloonist. (c) 2011, The Estate of Donald Heiney. During the summer of 1897, the narrator of this story, a fictional Swedish scientist, has set out for the North Pole in a hydrogen-powered balloon.   

[passage-header]Read the passage and answer the question that follows:
[/passage-header]

In these trying times, when buying ordinary foodstuff can burn a hole in your pockets, comes the news that can actually help us save some hard cash when we go out to shop the next time. According to a Stanford University study, the first of its kind in the world, there is no evidence to suggest that there are more nutritional benefits from expensive organic food than those grown by conventional methods. The researchers add that there is no difference in protein and fat content between organic and conventional milk and the vitamin count is similar in both types. The only benefit is that organic foods are not contaminated with pesticides but then before you chew on that plate of organic okra with roti made from organic wheat, they are not 100% pesticide free either. In India, organic food has been growing at 20-22% and the export market is valued at Rs. 1,000 crores. Obviously, the study is not good news for that sector and for people who are big on organic food.

In India, eating organic food is more of a style statement than due to health worries because the stuff is expensive. But people who can, do indulge in not only organic vegetables but even organic eggs laid by 'happy hens', who are allowed to roam around freely whereas 'unhappy hens' are kept in coops. Then there are companies that have installed music channels in their cowsheds and the milk from those sheds are sold at a marked up price since it has more nutritional value because the animals are happy thanks to lilting 24x7 music. We don't yet know any farmer using music to improve his crop quality, but then you never know: plants are known to respond to music.

Why such pickiness about food? These days, the huge number of TV shows and articles that we see and read on food provide bread and butter for the specialist. But instead of decoding food, its sources and what has gone into growing it, isn't it much better to enjoy what's on the plate?

[passage-footer](Adapted from The Hindustan Times)[/passage-footer]

[passage-header]This passage is adapted from Thor Hanson, Feathers,2011 by Thor Hanson. [/passage-header]Scientists have long debated how the ancestors of birds evolved the ability to fly. The ground-up theory assumes they were fleet-footed ground dwellers that captured prey by leaping and flapping their upper limbs. The tree-down theory assumes they were tree climbers that leapt and glided among branches.
27015At field sites around the world, Ken Dial saw a pattern in how young pheasants, quail, tinamous, and other ground birds ran along behind their parents.93021 They jumped up like popcorn, he said, describing how they would flap their half-formed wings and take short hops into the air.91128 So when a group of graduate students 55410challenged him to come up with new data on the age-old ground-up-tree-down debate, he designed a project to see what clues might lie in how baby game birds learned to fly.97764 

[passage-header]"A Pilgrim's Solace"[/passage-header]Stay, O sweet, and do not rise!
The light that shines comes from thine eyes;
The day breaks not: it is my heart,
Because that you and I must part.
11901Stay! Or else my joys will die
And perish in their infancy.