Music is an extremely interesting subject. It involves a number of interesting cultural questions and shows a great variety in many different regions and historical settings. It is also a very abstract form of art – in many ways far more abstract than painting. Even the most abstract of painting requires physical paint on a canvas. Without that, there is no painting. An empty frame is just that – an empty frame, not a painting.Which of the following is the best conclusion to this paragraph?
Answer(s): C
The best conclusion to this paragraph is one that expresses how abstract music is in comparison with painting. The paragraph clearly wants to say that painting is concrete and physical. We have to "see" it on a canvas for it to be a real painting. In contrast, we can't really "grasp onto" music in any way that is quite as immediate as the case of the painting. The correct answer expresses this – it isn't really written down; it only exists in being played and really cannot be grasped "all together" like a painting.
Byron was extremely fair in his judgments concerning other people, rarely judging them based on their clothing or their day-to-day demeanor. He always took time to get to know the details of people’s lives before making any final real decision regarding their character. His wife, on the other hand, was quite different.Which of the following is implied about Byron’s wife?
Answer(s): D
Byron is presented here as paying attention to significant details in others before making judgments regarding their characters. That is, he does not merely look to their surface-level characteristics but tries to go beyond such superficial determinations. To be "superficial" literally means to be "on the surface." Superficial judgments are those that look only to the "surface" characteristics of others (such as clothing or mere demeanor). If Byron's wife is contrasted to his attitude, she must be superficial in her judgments of others. However, we cannot say anything more than that, at least based on what the passage has provided for us.
As he aged, John-Paul realized that he needed to be far harsher in his judgments of others, for they are often far more iniquitous than he had imagined.What does this sentence imply?
The word "iniquity" means "immoral" or "very unfair." "Iniquitous" is the adjective form, meaning, "The state of being immoral." Thus, the sentence states that John-Paul realized that he had to acknowledge the iniquity of others in his judgments. The implication is that he had be rather innocent in his judgments when he was younger, not imagining that people were as wicked as they actually were. (Whether or not this is true, this is what the sentence implies). This implies that he was somewhat naïve in his youth. However, we cannot say anything specific about what brought him to this conclusion or what it says about his character today.
"Why Learning Multiple Languages in Graduate School is Important" by Matthew Minerd (2013)In graduate school, students are often required to learn a number of foreign languages in addition to their regular coursework. This can be quite frustrating and difficult, for the normal courses in graduate school require significantly more reading and writing than do undergraduate courses. It is not unusual for graduate students to have regular reading assignments of several hundred pages for each course that they take. Likewise, they often write papers of much greater length than those that they wrote as undergraduate students. When language examinations are added to this difficult course load, it can be very frustrating for graduate students to try to find the time to prepare for these additional examinations. Although these frustrations are understandable, this system has not been created solely to cause woe for graduate students. Much of the work for which these students are being prepared will focus on research. While much has been written in English about many topics, adequate research can only be done if one is able to read what people have written in other languages. For instance, there are many important articles and books written about almost every topic by European scholars. If a graduate student does not know any foreign languages, all of these article and books will be impossible to read, and hence useless to their research endeavors. This would be a great loss for a student's research. Therefore, in spite of its frustrating aspects, the language examination process is an important component of graduate school education.Which of the following sentences implies a negative outcome that might occur if graduate students no longer were required to study (and be examined in) foreign languages?
Throughout the second paragraph, it is argued that graduate students are being trained to do research. The place of foreign languages in graduate study is justified in light of this training. The correct answer among the options provided is the one that explains what will occur if the students are not able to read foreign languages: the many articles and books written in other languages will be useless because the students will be unable to read them.
"Chesterton on Virtues and Vices" by Matthew Minerd (2013)The British author G.K. Chesterton once wrote that the modern world was not really a combination of evils brought about by mere vices being unleashed. Instead, following his normal paradoxical style, Chesterton spoke of the modern world as having been filled with “virtues gone mad.” He believed that Christian notions of things like pity and truth had been split apart in an unhealthy way. Without a sense of honesty, pity could become quite untruthful and deceptive. Likewise, unbridled truth could be come quite nefarious and pitiless. Without a broader context, such virtues could become quite wild and indeed vicious. Chesterton’s remark is more insightful than might appear at first glance. For instance, it has been confirmed, in part at least, by the historical research undertaken by men like Professor Étienne Gilson. Gilson, an historian of philosophy in the twentieth century, did much of his early work proving that many of the strange positions of Rene Déscartes, a modern man, were actually made up of pieces taken from earlier Christian theologies and philosophies. Although Gilson’s work must be supplemented by newer research, his work remains a confirmation of at least some aspects of Chesterton’s lighthearted reflection. Indeed, a contemporary of Gilson’s, Jacques Maritain, likewise performed similar researches, though his perspective was not historical but speculative.Based on what is stated in the paragraphs, what can be inferred about Chesterton’s manner of expressing things?
Answer(s): B
The key passage for making a general inference regaring Chesterton's style of expression is, "following his normal paradoxical style." When something is "paradoxical" it seems absurd or self-contradictory. For instance, the notion of "virtues gone mad" actually is very paradoxical – virtues becoming vices. Thus, the correct answer is the one that infers that that his general manner of presentation must have something of an absurd character to it.
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