SAT Test

SAT Test practice questions, page 19 of 38, with answer review and explanations.

Question 91

He was born a slave, but T. Thomas Fortune (1856`"1928) went on to become a journalist, editor, and civil rights activist, founding several early black newspapers and a civil rights organization that predated W. E. B. DuBois' Niagara Movement (later the NAACP). Like many black leaders of his time, Fortune was torn between the radical leanings of DuBois and the more conservative ideology of Booker T. Washington. This 1884 essay, `The Negro and the Nation,` dates from his more militant period. The war of the Rebellion settled only one question: It forever settled the question of chattel slavery in this country. It forever choked the life out of the infamy of the Constitutional right of one man to rob another, by purchase of his person, or of his honest share of the produce of his own labor. But this was the only question permanently and irrevocably settled. Nor was this the all-absorbing question involved. The right of a state to secede from the socalled Union remains where it was when the treasonable shot upon Fort Sumter aroused the people to all the horrors of internecine war. And the measure of protection which the national government owes the individual members of states, a right imposed upon it by the adoption of the Fourteenth Amendment to the Constitution, remains still to be affirmed. It was not sufficient that the federal government should expend its blood and treasure to unfetter the limbs of four millions of people. There can be a slavery more odious, more galling, than mere chattel slavery. It has been declared to be an act of charity to enforce ignorance upon the slave, since to inform his intelligence would simply be to make his unnatural lot all the more unbearable. Instance the miserable existence of ֳ†sop, the great black moralist. But this is just what the manumission of the black people of this country try has accomplished. They are more absolutely under the control of the Southern whites; they are more systematically robbed of their labor; they are more poorly housed, clothed and fed, than under the slave rֳ©gime; and they enjoy, practically, less of the protection of the laws of the state or of the federal government. When they appeal to the federal government they are told by the Supreme Court to go to the state authorities `" as if they would have appealed to the one had the other given them that protection to which their sovereign citizenship entitles them! Practically, there is no law in the United States which extends its protecting arm over the black man and his rights. He is, like the Irishman in Ireland, an alien in his native land. There is no central or auxiliary authority to which he can appeal for protection. Wherever he turns he finds the strong arm of constituted authority powerless to protect him. The farmer and the merchant rob him with absolute immunity, and irresponsible ruffians murder him without fear of punishment, undeterred by the law, or by public opinion `" which connives at, if it does not inspire, the deeds of lawless violence. Legislatures of states have framed a code of laws which is more cruel and unjust than any enforced by a former slave state. The right of franchise has been practically annulled in every one of the former slave states, in not one of which, today, can a man vote, think, or act as he pleases. He must conform his views to the views of the men who have usurped every function of government `" who, at the point of the dagger, and with shotgun, have made themselves masters in defiance of every law or precedent in our history as a government. They have usurped government with the weapons of the cowards and assassins, and they maintain themselves in power by the most approved practices of the most odious of tyrants. These men have shed as much innocent blood as the bloody triumvirate of Rome. Today, red handed murderers and assassins sit in the high places of power, and bask in the smiles of innocence and beauty. Fortune uses the example of the Irishman to show that:

  1. famine is not alien to people in the United States
  2. one can be treated as a foreigner in the land of one's birth
  3. some people have a native land; others have none
  4. one can be born to slavery but rise above it
  5. people may be treated more fairly in a monarchy than in a democracy

Question 92

Musical notes, like all sounds, are a result of the sound waves created by movement, like the rush of air through a trumpet. Musical notes are very regular sound waves. The qualities of these waves `" how much they displace molecules, and how often they do so `" give the note its particular sound. How much a sound wave displaces molecules affects the volume of the note. How frequently a sound wave reaches your ear determines whether the note is high or low pitched. When scientists describe how high or low a sound is, they use a numerical measurement of its frequency, such as `440 vibrations per second,` rather than the letters musicians use. In this passage, musical notes are used primarily to:

  1. illustrate the difference between human-produced and non-human-produced sound.
  2. demonstrate the difference between musical sound and all other sound.
  3. provide an example of sound properties common to all sound.
  4. convey the difference between musical pitch and frequency pitch.
  5. explain the connection between number and letter names for sounds

Question 93

Musical notes, like all sounds, are a result of the sound waves created by movement, like the rush of air through a trumpet. Musical notes are very regular sound waves. The qualities of these waves `" how much they displace molecules, and how often they do so `" give the note its particular sound. How much a sound wave displaces molecules affects the volume of the note. How frequently a sound wave reaches your ear determines whether the note is high or low pitched. When scientists describe how high or low a sound is, they use a numerical measurement of its frequency, such as `440 vibrations per second,` rather than the letters musicians use. All of the following are true statements about pitch, according to the passage, EXCEPT:

  1. Nonmusical sounds cannot be referred to in terms of pitch.
  2. Pitch is solely determined by the frequency of the sound wave.
  3. Pitch is closely related to the vibration of molecules.
  4. Pitch cannot be accurately described with letter names.
  5. Humans' perception of pitch is not affected by the intensity of the sound wave.

Question 94

Margaret Walker, who would become one of the most important twentieth century African-American poets, was born in Birmingham, Alabama, in 1915. Her parents, a minister and a music teacher, encouraged her to read poetry and philosophy even as a child. Walker completed her high school education at Gilbert Academy in New Orleans and went on to attend New Orleans University for two years. It was then that the important Harlem Renaissance poet Langston Hughes recognized her talent and persuaded her to continue her education in the North. She transferred to Northwestern University in Illinois, where she received a degree in English in 1935. Her poem, `For My People,` which would remain one of her most important works, was also her first publication, appearing in Poetry magazine in 1937. The passage cites Walker's interaction with Langston Hughes as:

  1. instrumental in her early work being published.
  2. influential in her decision to study at Northwestern University.
  3. not as important at the time it happened as it is now, due to Hughes' fame.
  4. a great encouragement for Walker's confidence as a poet.
  5. important to her choice to study at New Orleans University.

Question 95

Margaret Walker, who would become one of the most important twentieth century African-American poets, was born in Birmingham, Alabama, in 1915. Her parents, a minister and a music teacher, encouraged her to read poetry and philosophy even as a child. Walker completed her high school education at Gilbert Academy in New Orleans and went on to attend New Orleans University for two years. It was then that the important Harlem Renaissance poet Langston Hughes recognized her talent and persuaded her to continue her education in the North. She transferred to Northwestern University in Illinois, where she received a degree in English in 1935. Her poem, `For My People,` which would remain one of her most important works, was also her first publication, appearing in Poetry magazine in 1937. The passage suggests that Walker's decision to become a poet:

  1. occurred before she entered college.
  2. was primarily a result of her interaction with Hughes.
  3. was not surprising, given her upbringing.
  4. occurred after her transfer to Northwestern University.
  5. was sudden and immediately successful.