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Read the passage then answer the question that follows.      The influence of sports reaches far and wide.  Sports are particularly popular in our leisure-oriented American society, where they perform several major beneficial functions.        To being with, sports are conducive to success in other areas of life.  Being competitive, sports inspire athletes to do their utmost to win, helping them to develop such qualities as skill and ability, diligence and self-discipline, mental alertness, and physical fitness.  These qualities can ensure success in the larger society.  By watching athletes perform, spectators also learn the importance of hard work, playing by the rules, and working as a team player-characteristics that help ensure success in a career and other aspects of life.        Next, sports enhance health and happiness.  Participants can enjoy a healthy, long life.  The health benefit is more than physical, however; it is also psychological.  Runners and joggers, for example, often find that their activity releases tension and anger as well as relieves anxiety and depression.  Moreover, many people derive much pleasure from looking on their participation as a form of beauty, an artistic expression, or a way of having a good time with friends.  Similarly, sports improve the quality of life for spectators.  Fans can escape their humdrum daily routines or find pleasure in filling their leisure time, as many Americans do when watching baseball, long known as the national pastime.  They can savor the aesthetic pleasure of watching the excellence, beauty, and creativity in an athlete’s performance.  The fans can therefore attain greater happiness, life satisfaction, or psychological well-being.        Third, sports contribute to social order and stability by serving as an integrating force for society as a whole.  Sports are, in effect, a social mechanism for uniting potentially disunited members of society.  Through their common interest in a famous athlete or team, people of diverse racial, social, and cultural backgrounds can feel a sense of community or intimacy that they can acquire in no other way.  Athletes, too, can identify with their fans, their community, and their country.      But sports can also be seen as harming society by serving the interests of the relatively powerful over those of the powerless in at least two ways.  For one thing, sports tend to act as an opiate, numbing the masses’ sense of dissatisfaction with capitalist society.  Involvement in sports as spectators distracts low-paid or unemployed workers from their tedious and dehumanizing jobs or frustrating joblessness.        In addition, sports reinforce social inequalities in society.  Regrettably, the overemphasis on competition and winning has caused the loss of something all participants can enjoy equally-namely, the original elements of play and fun in sporting activities.  Many people have become “couch potatoes” who spend more time watching than playing sports.  And sports have turned into big business, with powerful owners of professional teams exploiting the public and government.  Aside from making enormous sums of money from the fans, team owners receive many tax breaks while enjoying the enviable position of being the only self-regulated (in effect, unregulated) monopoly in the nation.  Sports is now an elitist system in which a very tiny group of owners and players become tycoons and superstars, while a huge number of potential players are transformed into mere spectators.     Which sentence best states the main idea of the passage?

Read the passage then answer the question that follows.      The influence of sports reaches far and wide.  Sports are particularly popular in our leisure-oriented American society, where they perform several major beneficial functions.        To being with, sports are conducive to success in other areas of life.  Being competitive, sports inspire athletes to do their utmost to win, helping them to develop such qualities as skill and ability, diligence and self-discipline, mental alertness, and physical fitness.  These qualities can ensure success in the larger society.  By watching athletes perform, spectators also learn the importance of hard work, playing by the rules, and working as a team player-characteristics that help ensure success in a career and other aspects of life.        Next, sports enhance health and happiness.  Participants can enjoy a healthy, long life.  The health benefit is more than physical, however; it is also psychological.  Runners and joggers, for example, often find that their activity releases tension and anger as well as relieves anxiety and depression.  Moreover, many people derive much pleasure from looking on their participation as a form of beauty, an artistic expression, or a way of having a good time with friends.  Similarly, sports improve the quality of life for spectators.  Fans can escape their humdrum daily routines or find pleasure in filling their leisure time, as many Americans do when watching baseball, long known as the national pastime.  They can savor the aesthetic pleasure of watching the excellence, beauty, and creativity in an athlete’s performance.  The fans can therefore attain greater happiness, life satisfaction, or psychological well-being.        Third, sports contribute to social order and stability by serving as an integrating force for society as a whole.  Sports are, in effect, a social mechanism for uniting potentially disunited members of society.  Through their common interest in a famous athlete or team, people of diverse racial, social, and cultural backgrounds can feel a sense of community or intimacy that they can acquire in no other way.  Athletes, too, can identify with their fans, their community, and their country.      But sports can also be seen as harming society by serving the interests of the relatively powerful over those of the powerless in at least two ways.  For one thing, sports tend to act as an opiate, numbing the masses’ sense of dissatisfaction with capitalist society.  Involvement in sports as spectators distracts low-paid or unemployed workers from their tedious and dehumanizing jobs or frustrating joblessness.        In addition, sports reinforce social inequalities in society.  Regrettably, the overemphasis on competition and winning has caused the loss of something all participants can enjoy equally-namely, the original elements of play and fun in sporting activities.  Many people have become “couch potatoes” who spend more time watching than playing sports.  And sports have turned into big business, with powerful owners of professional teams exploiting the public and government.  Aside from making enormous sums of money from the fans, team owners receive many tax breaks while enjoying the enviable position of being the only self-regulated (in effect, unregulated) monopoly in the nation.  Sports is now an elitist system in which a very tiny group of owners and players become tycoons and superstars, while a huge number of potential players are transformed into mere spectators.     Identify the relationship between these two sentences in paragraph 2.   “They can savor the aesthetic pleasure of watching the excellence, beauty, and creativity in an athlete’s performance. The fans can therefore attain greater happiness, life satisfaction, or psychological well-being.”

Read the passage, then answer each question.      It used to be that people dreaded the thought of living alone because they were afraid of becoming lonely and isolated.  But that attitude is rapidly changing.  These days, increasing numbers of people see living alone not as something to be avoided at all costs, but as an opportunity for personal fulfillment.       Statistics reflect this growing change in attitude.  Today, the percentage of Americans between the ages of 18 and 34 who live alone is 10 times what it was in 1950.  Currently, five million young Americans live alone, and the number of people between the ages of 35 and 64 who live alone is 15 million.  Not surprisingly, there is a strong correlation between having money and living alone.  In American cities with a relatively large middle class-Atlanta, Denver, San Francisco, Minneapolis, and Seattle-40 percent or more of all households consist of a single person.  And Great Britain, France, and Germany have even higher percentages of single people.  The same trend holds true for the rapidly growing economies of China, India, and Brazil.  Throughout the world, it seems that the more disposable income people have, the more they use it to buy privacy and personal space.        Research also suggests that, far from being lonely, people who live alone are more, not less, socially active than their married counterparts.  Think about it: while the traditional family is parked at home night after night, single people without family obligations have more time to engage in social activities.  Thanks to the spread of new communications technologies, being home alone no longer means being isolated.  With a click of a mouse, single people can communicate with friends throughout the nation or world.  Nor does Internet use rule out face-to-face socializing.  Research has shown that heavy Internet users are more likely than others to have extended social networks.  Furthermore, they are more likely to go out to cafes, restaurants, and parks and to attend lectures and personal enrichment classes.        This desire for personal space cuts across all age groups.  A Cornell University study found that single seniors had just as many friends as their married peers and were more likely to socialize with friends and neighbors.  A century ago, the majority of seniors lived with a child because they could no longer afford to live alone.  These days, thanks to Social Security, private pensions and income from investments, just 20 percent do.  According to sociologist Eric Klinenberg, older single people value their independence, and living alone allows them to maintain it.  When interviewed, most single people over 65 report that they would much rather live alone than move in with family members or friends or into a nursing home.      It’s true that some older people, especially those with health problems, do become dangerously isolated as a result of living alone.  More attention and support need to be given to them.  And it’s also true that gloomy economic circumstances have forced some young people to move back in with their parents.  Yet in the general population, the number of those living alone continues to rise.  According to the latest census report, 32 million Americans currently live alone, up from 27.2 million in 2000 and 31 million in 2010.  All signs indicate that this trend will continue.     Which sentence best states the main idea of this passage?

Read the passage then answer the question that follows.      The influence of sports reaches far and wide.  Sports are particularly popular in our leisure-oriented American society, where they perform several major beneficial functions.        To being with, sports are conducive to success in other areas of life.  Being competitive, sports inspire athletes to do their utmost to win, helping them to develop such qualities as skill and ability, diligence and self-discipline, mental alertness, and physical fitness.  These qualities can ensure success in the larger society.  By watching athletes perform, spectators also learn the importance of hard work, playing by the rules, and working as a team player-characteristics that help ensure success in a career and other aspects of life.        Next, sports enhance health and happiness.  Participants can enjoy a healthy, long life.  The health benefit is more than physical, however; it is also psychological.  Runners and joggers, for example, often find that their activity releases tension and anger as well as relieves anxiety and depression.  Moreover, many people derive much pleasure from looking on their participation as a form of beauty, an artistic expression, or a way of having a good time with friends.  Similarly, sports improve the quality of life for spectators.  Fans can escape their humdrum daily routines or find pleasure in filling their leisure time, as many Americans do when watching baseball, long known as the national pastime.  They can savor the aesthetic pleasure of watching the excellence, beauty, and creativity in an athlete’s performance.  The fans can therefore attain greater happiness, life satisfaction, or psychological well-being.        Third, sports contribute to social order and stability by serving as an integrating force for society as a whole.  Sports are, in effect, a social mechanism for uniting potentially disunited members of society.  Through their common interest in a famous athlete or team, people of diverse racial, social, and cultural backgrounds can feel a sense of community or intimacy that they can acquire in no other way.  Athletes, too, can identify with their fans, their community, and their country.      But sports can also be seen as harming society by serving the interests of the relatively powerful over those of the powerless in at least two ways.  For one thing, sports tend to act as an opiate, numbing the masses’ sense of dissatisfaction with capitalist society.  Involvement in sports as spectators distracts low-paid or unemployed workers from their tedious and dehumanizing jobs or frustrating joblessness.        In addition, sports reinforce social inequalities in society.  Regrettably, the overemphasis on competition and winning has caused the loss of something all participants can enjoy equally-namely, the original elements of play and fun in sporting activities.  Many people have become “couch potatoes” who spend more time watching than playing sports.  And sports have turned into big business, with powerful owners of professional teams exploiting the public and government.  Aside from making enormous sums of money from the fans, team owners receive many tax breaks while enjoying the enviable position of being the only self-regulated (in effect, unregulated) monopoly in the nation.  Sports is now an elitist system in which a very tiny group of owners and players become tycoons and superstars, while a huge number of potential players are transformed into mere spectators.     A conclusion that can be drawn from this passage is that…

The FDA regulates dietary supplements before they are put on the shelf.

Choose the letter of the inference that is most firmly based on the given facts.      Coney Island, a strip of land on Long Island, New York, is best-known as a center of amusement parks.  It was first settled by the Dutch in the mid 1600s.  The word “coney” is an old-fashioned term for rabbits.  Nowadays roller coasters and hot-dog vendors are what most people think of when they hear the name Coney Island.  

Read the passage then answer the question that follows.      The influence of sports reaches far and wide.  Sports are particularly popular in our leisure-oriented American society, where they perform several major beneficial functions.        To being with, sports are conducive to success in other areas of life.  Being competitive, sports inspire athletes to do their utmost to win, helping them to develop such qualities as skill and ability, diligence and self-discipline, mental alertness, and physical fitness.  These qualities can ensure success in the larger society.  By watching athletes perform, spectators also learn the importance of hard work, playing by the rules, and working as a team player-characteristics that help ensure success in a career and other aspects of life.        Next, sports enhance health and happiness.  Participants can enjoy a healthy, long life.  The health benefit is more than physical, however; it is also psychological.  Runners and joggers, for example, often find that their activity releases tension and anger as well as relieves anxiety and depression.  Moreover, many people derive much pleasure from looking on their participation as a form of beauty, an artistic expression, or a way of having a good time with friends.  Similarly, sports improve the quality of life for spectators.  Fans can escape their humdrum daily routines or find pleasure in filling their leisure time, as many Americans do when watching baseball, long known as the national pastime.  They can savor the aesthetic pleasure of watching the excellence, beauty, and creativity in an athlete’s performance.  The fans can therefore attain greater happiness, life satisfaction, or psychological well-being.        Third, sports contribute to social order and stability by serving as an integrating force for society as a whole.  Sports are, in effect, a social mechanism for uniting potentially disunited members of society.  Through their common interest in a famous athlete or team, people of diverse racial, social, and cultural backgrounds can feel a sense of community or intimacy that they can acquire in no other way.  Athletes, too, can identify with their fans, their community, and their country.      But sports can also be seen as harming society by serving the interests of the relatively powerful over those of the powerless in at least two ways.  For one thing, sports tend to act as an opiate, numbing the masses’ sense of dissatisfaction with capitalist society.  Involvement in sports as spectators distracts low-paid or unemployed workers from their tedious and dehumanizing jobs or frustrating joblessness.        In addition, sports reinforce social inequalities in society.  Regrettably, the overemphasis on competition and winning has caused the loss of something all participants can enjoy equally-namely, the original elements of play and fun in sporting activities.  Many people have become “couch potatoes” who spend more time watching than playing sports.  And sports have turned into big business, with powerful owners of professional teams exploiting the public and government.  Aside from making enormous sums of money from the fans, team owners receive many tax breaks while enjoying the enviable position of being the only self-regulated (in effect, unregulated) monopoly in the nation.  Sports is now an elitist system in which a very tiny group of owners and players become tycoons and superstars, while a huge number of potential players are transformed into mere spectators.   In this passage, the author is biased in favor of… 

Read the passage, then answer each question.      It used to be that people dreaded the thought of living alone because they were afraid of becoming lonely and isolated.  But that attitude is rapidly changing.  These days, increasing numbers of people see living alone not as something to be avoided at all costs, but as an opportunity for personal fulfillment.       Statistics reflect this growing change in attitude.  Today, the percentage of Americans between the ages of 18 and 34 who live alone is 10 times what it was in 1950.  Currently, five million young Americans live alone, and the number of people between the ages of 35 and 64 who live alone is 15 million.  Not surprisingly, there is a strong correlation between having money and living alone.  In American cities with a relatively large middle class-Atlanta, Denver, San Francisco, Minneapolis, and Seattle-40 percent or more of all households consist of a single person.  And Great Britain, France, and Germany have even higher percentages of single people.  The same trend holds true for the rapidly growing economies of China, India, and Brazil.  Throughout the world, it seems that the more disposable income people have, the more they use it to buy privacy and personal space.        Research also suggests that, far from being lonely, people who live alone are more, not less, socially active than their married counterparts.  Think about it: while the traditional family is parked at home night after night, single people without family obligations have more time to engage in social activities.  Thanks to the spread of new communications technologies, being home alone no longer means being isolated.  With a click of a mouse, single people can communicate with friends throughout the nation or world.  Nor does Internet use rule out face-to-face socializing.  Research has shown that heavy Internet users are more likely than others to have extended social networks.  Furthermore, they are more likely to go out to cafes, restaurants, and parks and to attend lectures and personal enrichment classes.        This desire for personal space cuts across all age groups.  A Cornell University study found that single seniors had just as many friends as their married peers and were more likely to socialize with friends and neighbors.  A century ago, the majority of seniors lived with a child because they could no longer afford to live alone.  These days, thanks to Social Security, private pensions and income from investments, just 20 percent do.  According to sociologist Eric Klinenberg, older single people value their independence, and living alone allows them to maintain it.  When interviewed, most single people over 65 report that they would much rather live alone than move in with family members or friends or into a nursing home.      It’s true that some older people, especially those with health problems, do become dangerously isolated as a result of living alone.  More attention and support need to be given to them.  And it’s also true that gloomy economic circumstances have forced some young people to move back in with their parents.  Yet in the general population, the number of those living alone continues to rise.  According to the latest census report, 32 million Americans currently live alone, up from 27.2 million in 2000 and 31 million in 2010.  All signs indicate that this trend will continue.     According to the author,

Read the passage then answer the question that follows.      The American obesity epidemic presents a paradox.  While we are a people often obsessed with the idea of eating the right foods, we have, arguably, the worst diet on earth.  Other cultures with far fewer resources, less education, and minimal choices have exceedingly better diets. Take, for instance, the remote Masai people of East Africa.  Consuming primarily cattle blood, meat, milk and vegetables, the Masai are heart-healthy, fit, and have an obesity rate of just about zero.  Meanwhile, American obesity rates are pushing past 30 percent and are expected to reach near 50 percent by 2030!  And remember, obese is defined as extremely overweight, not just uncomfortably fat.  So, what exactly is it about the American diet that is creating such pervasive unhealthiness?      First and foremost, too much food today is not real food.  Industrial processing has created a nightmare of consumables packed with unpronounceable additives and preservatives.  Worse still, many of these additives, such as high-fructose corn syrup and trans-fats, are addictive, tricking the taste buds into convincing the brain that the food is good, while, in fact, the food is terrible-and barely even food.  Consider the typical fast-food French fry, which contains more than 20 ingredients-only one of which is actually potato.  Packaged and canned foods are loaded with sodium, sugars, and fat to make them more appealing to our skewed appetites, further adding to the ever-growing snowball of obesity.  The average American is so addicted to sugar saturation that he or she consumes more than 34 teaspoons of sugar per day.      Nutritionist and health professionals point out that a return to eating real food is far more important than any other aspect when it comes to battling the obesity epidemic-more important than exercise or going on another diet.  Simply focusing on eating real and whole foods (think tomato, not ketchup) can quickly change metabolism and energy levels for the better and drastically reduce junk “food” cravings. But what exactly is real food, and how do we know when we’re eating it?  Food author Michael Pollan, who coined the catchphrase “Eat food. Not too much. Mostly plants,” offers some helpful pointers.  First, don’t eat anything that your great-grandmother wouldn’t recognize-in other words, no chicken nuggets, Hamburger Helper, or even energy drinks.  Also, avoid foods with more than five ingredients or any ingredients you can’t pronounce; these foods probably contain unhealthy and addictive additives.  Furthermore, shun fast-food chains completely; aside from the wilted piece of lettuce on your hamburger, there is rarely a sliver of real food in any of these establishments.  Finally, focus your shopping on the perimeter of the supermarket, rather than its middle.  The middle aisles are full of canned, boxed, and frozen foods that, in general, are neither whole nor real.  Fruits, vegetables, and unprocessed meats tend to be on the outer edges of stores near loading docks, where they can be replaced more easily.      The bottom line is that we need to simplify our eating in order to trim down as a nation.  Seeking out unusual and complicated diets that involve supplements and strange food combinations only confuses our bodies and eventually leads to more weight gain.  Fat, carbohydrates, proteins, and even salt and sugar are all necessary dietary components, but they should be consumed by way of whole, real food, instead of boxed, packaged, or canned “food.”   The author’s primary purpose is to…