SAT Reading Practice Test Questions – Science based -Set 3

Questions 13-24 are based on the following passage.

This passage is part of an introduction written by a well-known doctor and essayist for his 1996 book about rare neurological disorders.

I am writing this with my left hand, although I am strongly right-handed. I had surgery to my right shoulder a month ago and am not permitted, not capable of, use of the right arm at this time. I write slowly, awkwardly-but Line 5 more easily, more naturally, with each passing day. I am adapting, learning, all the while-not merely this left-handed writing, but a dozen other left-handed skills as well. I have also become very adept with my toes, to compensate for having one arm in a sling; I was quite off balance for a Line 10 few days when the arm was first immobilized, but now I walk differently, I have discovered a new balance. I am developing different patterns, different habits … a different identity, one might say, at least in this particular sphere. There must be changes going on with some of the programs Line 15 and circuits in my brain-altering synaptic weights and connectivities and signals (though our methods of brain imaging are still too crude to show these). Though some of my adaptations are deliberate, planned, and some are learned through trial and error (in the first Line 20 week I injured every finger on my left hand), most have occurred by themselves, unconsciously, by reprogrammings and adaptations of which I know nothing (any more than I know, or can know, how I normally walk). Next month, if all goes well, I can start to readapt again, to regain Line 25 a full (and “natural”) use of the right arm, to reincorporate it back into my body image, myself, to become a dexterous human being once again. But recovery, in such circumstances, is by no means automatic, a simple process like tissue healing-it will Line 30 involve a whole nexus of muscular and postural adjustments, a whole sequence of new procedures (and their synthesis), learning, finding, a new path to recovery. My surgeon, an understanding man who has had the same operation himself, said, “There are general guidelines, restrictions, Line 35 recommendations. But all the particulars you will have to find out for yourself.” Jay, my physiotherapist, expressed himself similarly: “Adaptation follows a different path in each person. The nervous system creates its own paths. You’re the neurologist-you must see this all the time.” Line 40 Nature’s imagination, as physicist Freeman Dyson likes to say, is richer than ours, and he speaks, marvellingly, of this richness in the physical and biological worlds, the endless diversity of physical forms and forms of life. For me, as a physician, nature’s richness is to be studied in the Line 45 phenomena of health and disease, in the endless forms of individual adaptation by which human organisms, people, adapt and reconstruct themselves when faced with the challenges and vicissitudes of life. Thus while one may be distressed by the trials of developmental Line 50 disorders or disease, one may sometimes see them as creative too-for if they destroy particular paths, particular ways of doing things, they may force the nervous system into making other paths and ways, force on it an unexpected growth and evolution. This other side of development or Line 55 disease is something I see, potentially, in almost every patient. That such radical adaptations can occur demands a view of the brain as dynamic and active rather than programmed and static, a supremely efficient adaptive system geared for evolution and change, ceaselessly adapting to the Line 60 needs of the organism-its need, above all, to construct a coherent self and world, whatever defects or disorders of brain function befall it. That the brain is minutely differentiated is clear: there are hundreds of tiny areas crucial for every aspect of perception and behavior (from the perception Line 65 of color and of motion to, perhaps, the intellectual orientation of the individual). The miracle is how they all cooperate, are integrated together, in the creation of a self. This sense of the brain’s remarkable plasticity, its capacity for the most striking adaptations, not the least in the Line 70 special (and often desperate) circumstances of neural or sensory mishap, has come to dominate my own perception of my patients and their lives. So much so, indeed, that I am sometimes moved to wonder whether it may be necessary to redefine the very concepts of “health” and “disease,” to Line 75 see these in terms of the ability of the organism to create a new organization and order, one that fits its special, altered disposition and needs, rather than in the terms of a rigidly defined “norm.”

13. The passage can primarily be described as

1. scientific evidence used to refute an established theory
2. amusing anecdotes countered by a profound insight
3. skeptical commentary evolving into a detached analysis
4. a case study followed by a scientific hypothesis
5. a personal account leading to a general observation

14. The author describes himself as “strongly right-handed” (line 2) in order to

1. convey the ease with which he learned to be ambidextrous
2. contrast his particular abilities and those of other individuals
3. suggest the difficulties he had to overcome
4. evoke a sympathetic response from the reader
5. characterize the sources of his physical strength

15. The author’s remark in lines 14-16 (“There must … signals”) can best be described as

1. conjecture
2. irony
3. inquiry
4. observation
5. evidence

16. In line 17, “crude” most nearly means

1. obvious
2. natural
3. offensive
4. undeveloped
5. vulgar

17. The author’s parenthetical reference in lines 22-23 serves to

1. depict his physical capabilities before his accident
2. highlight the process of learning through experience
3. explain his continuing inability to perform simple tasks
4. rationalize the frustration he felt about achieving his goals
5. illustrate a point about unconscious adaptation

18. In lines 34-36 the surgeon advises the author to

1. become more open-minded about muscular adjustments than he had been
2. follow a detailed and specific regimen of rehabilitation
3. find out how others have dealt with the same problem
4. develop his own procedures for coping
5. endure patiently until he physically recovers

19. The physiotherapist’s remarks (lines 36-39) reveal the assumption that

1. patients have complete control over the progress of their recovery
2. each neurologist follows a different path to understanding
3. all neurologists are aware of the nervous system’s adaptability
4. the author is inadequately informed about the intricacies of the muscular system
5. some neurologists consider both healthy and injured brain processes to be parallel

20. In line 42, “richness” most nearly means

1. biological importance
2. economic wealth
3. meaning
4. variety
5. resources

21. Why does the author mention that he is a physician in lines 43-48 ?

1. To emphasize his particular point of view
2. To illustrate the limits of scientific knowledge
3. To establish that he views brain function strictly from his patients’ standpoint
4. To suggest that his main concern is the surgery he performs on patients
5. To dispel any doubt about his credentials in the field of neurology

22. Lines 49-54 primarily encourage readers to view disease as

1. a source of psychological harm
2. an opportunity for productive change
3. an inevitable fact of human existence
4. a force that retards evolutionary change
5. a condition to be dealt with on a spiritual level

23. It can be inferred from the author’s discussion of radical adaptations in lines 56-62 that others may have

1. believed that adaptations occur only as a response to disease
2. held that neurological change can occur only as a result of an evolutionary process
3. viewed the brain as inflexible and unchanging
4. failed to recognize how minutely differentiated the brain is
5. recognized that the intellectual orientation of the individual is an organic function

24. The main point of the passage is to

1. explain the most fundamental aspects of brain function
2. discuss the impact of surgery on the nervous system
3. invite speculation about how physical rehabilitation complements natural healing
4. emphasize that current technology to measure brain activity is inadequate
5. argue that the brain’s ability to adapt to changing needs is virtually limitless