Reading Comprehension Test 26

[passage-header]Read the passage and answer the question that follows:
[/passage-header]The great fundamental issue now before our people can be stated briefly. It is: are the American people fit to govern themselves, to rule themselves, to control themselves? I believe they are. My opponents do not.

I believe in the right of the people to rule. I believe that the majority of the plain people of the United States will, day in and day out, make fewer mistakes in governing themselves than any smaller class or body of men, no matter what their training, will make in trying to govern them. 50265I believe, again, that the American people are capable of self-control and of learning by their mistakes90582. 78106Our opponents pay lip-loyalty to this doctrine, but they show their real89278 beliefs by the way in which they champion every device to make the nominal rule of the people a sham.

68647I have scant patience with this talk of the tyranny of the majority15705. Wherever there is the tyranny of the majority, I shall protest against it with all my heart and soul. But we are today suffering from the tyranny of minorities. It is a small minority that is grabbing our coal deposits, our water powers, and our harbor fronts. A small minority is battening on the sale of adulterated foods and drugs. It is a small minority that lies behind monopolies and trusts. It is a small minority that stands behind the present law of master and servant, the sweatshops, and the whole calendar of social and industrial injustice. It is a small minority that is today using our convention system to defeat the will of a majority of the people in the choice of delegates to the Chicago Convention.

This is the question that I propose to submit to the people. How can the prevailing morality or a preponderant opinion be better and more exactly ascertained than by a vote of the people? The people know what their own morality and their own opinion is.

The only tyrannies from which men, women, and children are suffering in real life are the tyrannies of minorities. If the majority of the American people were, in fact, tyrannous over the minority, if democracy had no greater self-control than empire, then indeed no written words which our forefathers put into the Constitution could 18816stay that tyranny.

95764No sane man who has been familiar with the government of this country for the last twenty years will complain that we have had too much of the rule of the majority81459. The trouble has been a far different one. 29609At many times and in many locations, there have been men who held public office in the States and in the nation who have, in fact, served not the whole people, but some special class or special interest40392. 11146I am not thinking only of those special interests which by grosser methods, by bribery and crime, have stolen from the people59145. I am thinking as much of their respective allies and figureheads, who have ruled and legislated and decided as if in some way the vested rights of privilege had a first mortgage on the whole United States, while the rights of all the people were merely an unsecured debt.

39600Am I overstating the case64587? 79542Have our political leaders always, or generally, recognized their duty to the people as anything more than a duty to disperse the mob, see that the ashes are taken away, and distribute patronage54637? 37586Have our leaders always, or generally, worked for the benefit of human beings, to increase the prosperity of all the people, to give each some opportunity of living decently and bringing up his children well32048? The questions need no answer. 

[passage-header]Read the passage and answer the question that follows:
[/passage-header]Many of the most critical managerial problems facing American arts institutions concern the careers of the individuals who manage them. An artistic discipline must induce capable managers to enter career paths that lead to executive positions. 99188It must provide these individuals with the experience and knowledge they need to perform effectively as top executives, and it must reward talented executives sufficiently so they will remain in the field28600.

In short, for a field to attract and retain talented managers, it must provide careers--sequences of jobs that lead to desired endpoints--to motivate people to participate. 26476Orderly careers allow individuals to compare their progress with that of their peers, to seek goals with some certainty that they will lead to valued outcomes, and to work from day to day with some confidence that competent performance will be rewarded26423. 20591In fields where careers are chaotic (the paths to higher positions being irregular and unpredictable) or where opportunities are few, it is difficult to attract talented managers or to persuade them to stay92755.

98225Individuals and service organizations in all artistic disciplines are concerned about administrative recruitment13288. 51487But, as yet, we have known little about who art managers are: their background, their education, their preparation, and their success (or lack of success) in their chosen fields91367. Where the concern is great and information meager, stereotypes abound. 88640Managerial careers in the arts are said to be characterized by instability and job hopping42060. Arts managers are sometimes portrayed as failed artists, accepting executive positions out of frustration, for which they are unqualified as substitutes for artistic roles they would rather play. Or, alternatively, arts administrators are alleged to be "just" managers, knowledgeable about accounting and marketing but insensitive to the particular needs of their artistic disciplines. 13997The results of our research, however, suggest that these stereotypes are not well founded66468.

Each set of administrators was divided into four quartiles based on the dollar operating budget of their institutions. 17694Not surprisingly, managers of the largest institutions by and large had spent more years in their fields than administrators of small organizations, which suggests that the latter group tends either to move to larger organizations or to leave the field68244. Managers of wealthy institutions also tended to be slightly older than managers of the small organization, especially in the case of the resident theaters. Directors of the largest art museums were more likely than other directors to have attended private secondary schools and colleges in the north-east, and to have earned Ph.D.s; most 42167striking was the finding that almost 40 percent of art museum directors from the largest museums and more than 25 percent of those from the next largest hold undergraduate or graduate degrees awarded by a specific American university, compared with just 5 percent of those from smaller museums.

Data from this study reveal that careers--i.e ordered sequences of jobs leading from 16718conventional entry portals to predictable destinations--did not exist in these fields. Further, mobility within organizations is limited by size: relatively few arts institutions have enough levels of management to routinely promote all competent personnel.

The disorderly nature of managerial careers in these artistic fields may provide opportunities for organizations to hire talented individuals from unusual backgrounds and for individuals willing to take risks to build successful careers. 27621But many people find it stressful to work in environments in which promotions opportunities are few and career strategies obscure and poorly understood. Such individuals, if they face career stagnation or uncertainty, may choose to leave arts administration for other pursuits78432.[passage-footer]This passage is adapted from Managers of the Arts, "Backgrounds, Recruitment, and Careers," a publication of the National Endowment of the Arts.
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[passage-header][/passage-header]   When many people think about termites, [1] you think about having to call the exterminator. It's true that termites cause serious structural damage to homes and crops-they cost the United States $2 billion annually in [2] repairs. However, to say that termites are just pests that cause more harm than good would be entirely inaccurate. Out of the three thousand or so species of termites, only a few cause problems for people. The rest are crucial to the health of many ecosystems and are largely responsible for the successful growth of vegetation, upon which all animal life depends. Furthermore, they are capable of astonishing feats of construction and participate in sophisticated social structures.
   [3] From woodlands to a desert to rainforests, termites [4] augment entire ecosystems. As they dig through the dirt, they create holes called macropores, which allow rain to soak deeply into the ground instead of evaporating or running off. The [5] termite's excretions provide the soil with additional structural integrity, helping to prevent erosion. [6] Furthermore as termites dig they mix organic matter like leaves, dead insects, and the remains of other organisms with inorganic clay and sand, helping the soil [7] preserve and retain its nutrients.
   [8](1) Termite mounds can reach up to thirty feet high. (2) To provide some perspective: termites are a quarter of an inch long and build structures that are approximately 1,500 times their heights. (3) The human-scale equivalent would be building a skyscraper over 8,000 feet tall, but the tallest skyscraper in the world is not even 3,000 feet all. (4)The enormous mounds support local ecosystems, allowing water to penetrate deep into the ground and creating moist oases where plants can flourish in arid terrain. (5) Animals also benefit from the presence of the mounds. (6) Many animals, including lizards, aardvarks, and mongooses, burrow into these mounds and use them as homes. 
   [9]Termites were among the first animal species to organize socially, and for the last two hundred million years have developed a sophisticated system of labor distribution. The queen [10] gives birth to nymphs, sometimes 20,000-30,000 per day. After hatching, the nymphs differentiate into classes with distinct tasks. Soldiers protect the mound from ant invasions. Reproductives fly off to form new colonies. Workers build mounds, care for nymphs, and tend fungal gardens that feed the colony. When termites need to evacuate the mound, they do not panic, trample each other, and get stuck in exits as humans often do. [11] Instead, they form orderly lines and wait for it to stand back up and then they all continue on together. Having termites in your house is a problem, but they are remarkable, accomplished creatures that make the world habitable for us all.

[passage-header]Read the passage and answer the question that follows:
[/passage-header]Many of the most critical managerial problems facing American arts institutions concern the careers of the individuals who manage them. An artistic discipline must induce capable managers to enter career paths that lead to executive positions. 99188It must provide these individuals with the experience and knowledge they need to perform effectively as top executives, and it must reward talented executives sufficiently so they will remain in the field28600.

In short, for a field to attract and retain talented managers, it must provide careers--sequences of jobs that lead to desired endpoints--to motivate people to participate. 26476Orderly careers allow individuals to compare their progress with that of their peers, to seek goals with some certainty that they will lead to valued outcomes, and to work from day to day with some confidence that competent performance will be rewarded26423. 20591In fields where careers are chaotic (the paths to higher positions being irregular and unpredictable) or where opportunities are few, it is difficult to attract talented managers or to persuade them to stay92755.

98225Individuals and service organizations in all artistic disciplines are concerned about administrative recruitment13288. 51487But, as yet, we have known little about who art managers are: their background, their education, their preparation, and their success (or lack of success) in their chosen fields91367. Where the concern is great and information meager, stereotypes abound. 88640Managerial careers in the arts are said to be characterized by instability and job hopping42060. Arts managers are sometimes portrayed as failed artists, accepting executive positions out of frustration, for which they are unqualified as substitutes for artistic roles they would rather play. Or, alternatively, arts administrators are alleged to be "just" managers, knowledgeable about accounting and marketing but insensitive to the particular needs of their artistic disciplines. 13997The results of our research, however, suggest that these stereotypes are not well founded66468.

Each set of administrators was divided into four quartiles based on the dollar operating budget of their institutions. 17694Not surprisingly, managers of the largest institutions by and large had spent more years in their fields than administrators of small organizations, which suggests that the latter group tends either to move to larger organizations or to leave the field68244. Managers of wealthy institutions also tended to be slightly older than managers of the small organization, especially in the case of the resident theaters. Directors of the largest art museums were more likely than other directors to have attended private secondary schools and colleges in the north-east, and to have earned Ph.D.s; most 42167striking was the finding that almost 40 percent of art museum directors from the largest museums and more than 25 percent of those from the next largest hold undergraduate or graduate degrees awarded by a specific American university, compared with just 5 percent of those from smaller museums.

Data from this study reveal that careers--i.e ordered sequences of jobs leading from 16718conventional entry portals to predictable destinations--did not exist in these fields. Further, mobility within organizations is limited by size: relatively few arts institutions have enough levels of management to routinely promote all competent personnel.

The disorderly nature of managerial careers in these artistic fields may provide opportunities for organizations to hire talented individuals from unusual backgrounds and for individuals willing to take risks to build successful careers. 27621But many people find it stressful to work in environments in which promotions opportunities are few and career strategies obscure and poorly understood. Such individuals, if they face career stagnation or uncertainty, may choose to leave arts administration for other pursuits78432.[passage-footer]This passage is adapted from Managers of the Arts, "Backgrounds, Recruitment, and Careers," a publication of the National Endowment of the Arts.
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[passage-header]Read the passage and answer the question that follows:[/passage-header]I had just finished my studies in Oxford, and was taking a brief holiday from work before assuming definitely the management of the estate. My father died when I was yet a child: my mother followed him within a year, and I was nearly as much alone in the world as a man might find himself.

The house, as well as the family, was of some antiquity. It contained a fine library, whose growth began before the invention of printing, and had continued to my own time, greatly influenced, of course, by changes of taste and pursuit.

The library, although duly considered in many alterations of the house and additions to it, had nevertheless, like an 97290encroaching state, absorbed one room after another until it occupied the greater part of the ground floor.

In the evening of a gloomy day of August, I was sitting in my usual place, my back to one of the windows, reading. I cannot tell what made me turn and cast a glance to the farther end of the room, when I saw, or seemed to see, a tall figure reaching up a hand to a bookshelf. 72245The next instant, my vision apparently 99806rectified by the comparative dusk, I saw no one and concluded that my optic nerve had been momentarily affected from within17074.

I resumed my reading, and would doubtless have forgotten the vague, evanescent impression, had it not been that, having occasion a moment after to consult a certain volume, 92443I found but a gap in the row where it ought to have stood, and the same instant remembered that just there I had seen, or fancied I saw, the old man in search of a book93208. I looked all about the spot but in vain. The next morning, however, there it was, just where I had thought to find it! I knew of no one in the house likely to be interested in such a book.

[passage-footer]This passage is adapted from Lilith, a novel by George MacDonald, originally published in 1895.
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[passage-header]Read the passage and answer the question that follows:
[/passage-header]Many of the most critical managerial problems facing American arts institutions concern the careers of the individuals who manage them. An artistic discipline must induce capable managers to enter career paths that lead to executive positions. 99188It must provide these individuals with the experience and knowledge they need to perform effectively as top executives, and it must reward talented executives sufficiently so they will remain in the field28600.

In short, for a field to attract and retain talented managers, it must provide careers--sequences of jobs that lead to desired endpoints--to motivate people to participate. 26476Orderly careers allow individuals to compare their progress with that of their peers, to seek goals with some certainty that they will lead to valued outcomes, and to work from day to day with some confidence that competent performance will be rewarded26423. 20591In fields where careers are chaotic (the paths to higher positions being irregular and unpredictable) or where opportunities are few, it is difficult to attract talented managers or to persuade them to stay92755.

98225Individuals and service organizations in all artistic disciplines are concerned about administrative recruitment13288. 51487But, as yet, we have known little about who art managers are: their background, their education, their preparation, and their success (or lack of success) in their chosen fields91367. Where the concern is great and information meager, stereotypes abound. 88640Managerial careers in the arts are said to be characterized by instability and job hopping42060. Arts managers are sometimes portrayed as failed artists, accepting executive positions out of frustration, for which they are unqualified as substitutes for artistic roles they would rather play. Or, alternatively, arts administrators are alleged to be "just" managers, knowledgeable about accounting and marketing but insensitive to the particular needs of their artistic disciplines. 13997The results of our research, however, suggest that these stereotypes are not well founded66468.

Each set of administrators was divided into four quartiles based on the dollar operating budget of their institutions. 17694Not surprisingly, managers of the largest institutions by and large had spent more years in their fields than administrators of small organizations, which suggests that the latter group tends either to move to larger organizations or to leave the field68244. Managers of wealthy institutions also tended to be slightly older than managers of the small organization, especially in the case of the resident theaters. Directors of the largest art museums were more likely than other directors to have attended private secondary schools and colleges in the north-east, and to have earned Ph.D.s; most 42167striking was the finding that almost 40 percent of art museum directors from the largest museums and more than 25 percent of those from the next largest hold undergraduate or graduate degrees awarded by a specific American university, compared with just 5 percent of those from smaller museums.

Data from this study reveal that careers--i.e ordered sequences of jobs leading from 16718conventional entry portals to predictable destinations--did not exist in these fields. Further, mobility within organizations is limited by size: relatively few arts institutions have enough levels of management to routinely promote all competent personnel.

The disorderly nature of managerial careers in these artistic fields may provide opportunities for organizations to hire talented individuals from unusual backgrounds and for individuals willing to take risks to build successful careers. 27621But many people find it stressful to work in environments in which promotions opportunities are few and career strategies obscure and poorly understood. Such individuals, if they face career stagnation or uncertainty, may choose to leave arts administration for other pursuits78432.[passage-footer]This passage is adapted from Managers of the Arts, "Backgrounds, Recruitment, and Careers," a publication of the National Endowment of the Arts.
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   A river dam needs reinforcement. A nuclear reactor dome at a power plant needs to be repositioned.

[passage-header]Read the passage given below and answer the question that follows:[/passage-header]In the second year of the reign of Valentinian and Valens, on the morning of the twenty-first day of July, the greatest part of the Roman world was shaken by a violent and destructive earthquake. 54964The impression was communicated to the waters; the shores of the Mediterranean were left dry, by the sudden retreat of the sea; 33918great quantities of fish were caught with the hand; large vessels were stranded on the mud; and 12641a curious spectator amused his eye, or rather his fancy, by contemplating the various appearance of valleys and mountains, which had never, since the formation of the globe, been exposed to the sun54988. 84072But the tide soon returned, with the weight of an immense and irresistible deluge, which was severely felt57200 on the coasts of Sicily, of Dalmatia, of Greece, and of Egypt: large boats were transported and lodged on the roofs of houses, or at the distance of two miles from the shore; the people, with their habitations, were swept away by the waters, and 43077the city of Alexandria annually commemorated the fatal day, on which fifty thousand persons had lost their lives in the inundation.38735
   This calamity, the report of which was magnified from one province to another, astonished and terrified the subjects of Rome; and their affrighted imagination enlarged the real extent of a momentary evil. They recollected the preceding earthquakes, which had subverted the cities of Palestine and Bithynia: 38648they considered these alarming strokes as the prelude only of still more dreadful calamities99185, and their fearful vanity was disposed to confound the symptoms of 45472declining empire and a sinking world.
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[passage-header]Read the passage given below and answer the question that follows:[/passage-header]   Everybody at all addicted to letter writing, without having much to say, which will include a large proportion of the female world at least, must feel with Lady Bertram, that she was out of luck in having such a capital piece of Mansfield news, as the certainty of the Grants going to bath, occur at a time when she 18114could make no advantage of it, and will admit that it must have been very mortifying to her to see it fall to the share of their thankless son, and treated as concisely as possible at the end of a long letter, instead of having it to spread over the largest part of a page of her own. For though Lady Bertram, rather at home in the epistolary line, having early in her marriage, from the 68982want of other employment, and the circumstance of Sir Thomas's being in the Parliament, got into the way of making and keeping correspondents, and formed for herself a very creditable, commonplace, 72489amplifying style, so that a very little matter was enough for her; she could not do entirely without any; she must have something to write about, 42326even of her niece, and being so soon to loose all the 18247benefits of Dr. Giant's gouty symptoms and, Mrs. Grant's morning calls, it was very hard upon her to be deprived of one of the last epistolary uses she could put them to.
   There were a rich amends, however, preparing for her. Lady Bertram's hour of good luck came. Within a few days from the receipt of Edmund's letter, Fanny had one from her aunt, beginning thus:
   "My dear Fanny, I take up my pen to communicate some very alarming intelligence, which I make no doubt will give you much concern."
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[passage-header]Read the passage given below and answer the question that follows:[/passage-header]In the second year of the reign of Valentinian and Valens, on the morning of the twenty-first day of July, the greatest part of the Roman world was shaken by a violent and destructive earthquake. 54964The impression was communicated to the waters; the shores of the Mediterranean were left dry, by the sudden retreat of the sea; 33918great quantities of fish were caught with the hand; large vessels were stranded on the mud; and 12641a curious spectator amused his eye, or rather his fancy, by contemplating the various appearance of valleys and mountains, which had never, since the formation of the globe, been exposed to the sun54988. 84072But the tide soon returned, with the weight of an immense and irresistible deluge, which was severely felt57200 on the coasts of Sicily, of Dalmatia, of Greece, and of Egypt: large boats were transported and lodged on the roofs of houses, or at the distance of two miles from the shore; the people, with their habitations, were swept away by the waters, and 43077the city of Alexandria annually commemorated the fatal day, on which fifty thousand persons had lost their lives in the inundation.38735
   This calamity, the report of which was magnified from one province to another, astonished and terrified the subjects of Rome; and their affrighted imagination enlarged the real extent of a momentary evil. They recollected the preceding earthquakes, which had subverted the cities of Palestine and Bithynia: 38648they considered these alarming strokes as the prelude only of still more dreadful calamities99185, and their fearful vanity was disposed to confound the symptoms of 45472declining empire and a sinking world.
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