Home / SAT Reading Practice Test Questions-Literature based-Set 5

SAT Reading Practice Test Questions-Literature based-Set 5

DIRECTIONS:

Each passage or pair of passages below is followed by a number of questions. After reading each passage or pair, choose the best answer to each question based on what is stated or implied in the passage or passages and in any accompanying graphics (such as a table or graph).

Questions 1–10 are based on the following passage. This passage is excerpted from George Gissing, New Grub Street. Originally published in 1891. Reardon was a newly successful author and had married, but soon found himself unable to write. Following a conversation with his wife, he takes a walk and thinks about the time just before his wedding. And the words sang about him, filled the air with a mad pulsing of intolerable joy, made him desire to fling himself in passionate humility at her feet, to weep hot tears, to cry to her in insane worship. He thought her Line 5 beautiful beyond anything his heart had imagined; her warm gold hair was the rapture of his eyes and of his reverent hand. Though slenderly fashioned, she was so gloriously strong. ‘Not a day of illness in her life: said Mrs. Yule, and one could readily believe it. Line 10 She spoke with such a sweet decision. Her ‘I love you!’ was a bond with eternity. In the simplest as in the greatest things she saw his wish and acted frankly upon it. No pretty petulance, no affectation of silly-sweet languishing, none of the weaknesses of woman. And Line 15 so exquisitely fresh in her twenty years of maidenhood, with bright young eyes that seemed to bid defiance to all the years to come. He went about like one dazzled with excessive light. He talked as he had never talked before, recklessly, Line 20 exultantly, insolently—in the nobler sense. He made friends on every hand; he welcomed all the world to his bosom; he felt the benevolence of a god. ‘I love you!’ It breathed like music at his ears when he fell asleep in weariness of joy; it awakened him on Line 25 the morrow as with a glorious ringing summons to renewed life. Delay? Why should there be delay? Amy wished nothing but to become his wife. Idle to think of his doing any more work until he sat down in the home of which she was mistress. His brain burned with Line 30 visions of the books he would henceforth write, but his hand was incapable of anything but a love-letter. And what letters! Reardon never published anything equal to those. ‘I have received your poem: Amy replied to one of them. And she was right; not a letter, but a Line 35 poem he had sent her, with every word on fire. The hours of talk! It enraptured him to find how much she had read, and with what clearness of understanding. Latin and Greek, no. Ah! but she should learn them both, that there might be nothing Line 40 wanting in the communion between his thought and hers. For he loved the old writers with all his heart; they had been such strength to him in his days of misery. They would go together to the charmed lands of Line 45 the South. No, not now for their marriage holiday—Amy said that would be an imprudent expense; but as soon as he had got a good price for a book. Will not the publishers be kind? If they knew what happiness lurked in embryo within their foolish cheque-books! Line 50 He woke of a sudden in the early hours of one morning, a week before the wedding-day. You know that kind of awaking, so complete in an instant, caused by the pressure of some troublesome thought upon the dreaming brain. ‘Suppose I should not succeed Line 55 henceforth? Suppose I could never get more than this poor hundred pounds for one of the long books which cost me so much labour? I shall perhaps have children to support; and Amy—how would Amy bear poverty?’ He knew what poverty means. The chilling of Line 60 brain and heart, the unnerving of the hands, the slow gathering about one of fear and shame and impotent wrath, the dread feeling of helplessness, of the world’s base indifference. Poverty! Poverty!

1. Which choice best describes a major theme of the passage?

  1. The internal battle between true love and self-doubt
  2. The unequivocal joy of marital bliss
  3. The destructive power of encroaching poverty
  4. The fear of never reaching one’s ultimate potential
Ans:/Explanation

Ans:A

2. According to the narrator, when the woman he loved learned of his feelings for her, she

  1. pledged her undying affection in return.
  2. dedicated herself to her maidenhood.
  3. reconsidered her prior refusal of his advances.
  4. wrote her own book of poetry.
Ans:/Explanation

Ans:A

3. Which choice provides the best evidence for the answer to the previous question?

  1. Lines 7–8 (“Though…strong”)
  2. Lines 10–11 (“She spoke…eternity”)
  3. Lines 26–27 (“Amy wished…wife”)
  4. Lines 33–35 (“Amy replied…fire”)
Ans:/Explanation

Ans:B

4. Which statement best describes a technique used to represent Amy’s desire to marry the narrator?

  1. The narrator describes in detail her youthful enthusiasm as a major motivating factor.
  2. The narrator asks a hypothetical question that is immediately refuted.
  3. The narrator applauds her decision as a reflection of an inner strength that is unparalleled.
  4. The narrator stresses her sincerity as proof of a dedication fostered by her maidenhood.
Ans:/Explanation

Ans:B

5. As compared with his love letters, the narrator’s book writing is portrayed as being

  1. agreeable.
  2. stalled.
  3. fiery.
  4. imaginative.
Ans:/Explanation

Ans:B

6. In describing the relationship between Amy and the narrator, the narrator highlights a distinction between Amy’s

  1. desire for marriage and his readiness.
  2. beauty and his common appeal.
  3. conventional education and his love of language.
  4. distaste for spending and his ability to write.
Ans:/Explanation

Ans:C

7. Which choice provides the best evidence for the answer to the previous question?

  1. Lines 4–7 (“He thought…hand”)
  2. Lines 11–13 (“In the…it”)
  3. Lines 38–41 (“Latin…hers”)
  4. Lines 45–47 (“No, not…book”)
Ans:/Explanation

Ans:C

8. As used in line 40, “wanting” most nearly means

  1. lacking.
  2. requesting.
  3. pleasing.
  4. desiring.
Ans:/Explanation

Ans:A

9. The narrator uses the phrase “what happiness lurked in embryo” (lines 48–49) to present the publishers as

  1. kind.
  2. wealthy.
  3. influential.
  4. foolish.
Ans:/Explanation

Ans:C

10. What function does the last paragraph (lines 59–63) serve in the passage as a whole?

  1. It expands upon the overall theme of the narrator’s never-ending love for Amy.
  2. It lists the long-term effects that poverty could have on the narrator’s relationship.
  3. It provides evidence that the narrator cannot support his wife by revealing his hysteria.
  4. It intensifies the narrator’s growing concerns about his ability to support his marriage.
Ans:/Explanation

Ans:D

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