ACT Past Papers with Answers

The narrator's statemetjt that she rarely visited her father at the office most strongly suggests: while he was working. and her father regardless of Iheir differences. Ihe fundamental separation between her father's public life and his private life. discomfort in public life.

When the narrator states, 'These day5 1 find myseIf looking for my father" (line 48), she is most nearly referring to thc fact that she has been: relating certain places she sees or certain people she comrnunicates with to her father. through long discussions with his closest former colleagues. that analy2e her WOTk as a writer. writing a series of article8 and a short story about her feelings about her father.

The narrator makes clear that compared to her inierest in exploring feelingg when she was a girl, her intereqt in exploring feelings at the time the passage was writ- ten was: rlluch slronger. slightly stronger. about the same.

The narrator characterizes the talks she and her father had in his study aboui her life problems as: impromptu chats thai were infrequent but deeply fulfilling. weekly appointments ihat were lighthearted and casual. once-a-year events thai were emotionally difficult. occasional, prearrarjged meetings that had a seri- ous tolle. ACT-Z15 31 GO ON TO THE NEXT PAGE. Passage 11 gear. In ideal conditions. the Sea Stallion could travel 160 nautical miles & day" it could sprint at 13 knots, or 55 almost 15 miles an hour. (A high-tech America's Cup racer rnighi hit 20 knoi8.) 'Ii ranks as one of ihe fastest arships in hi%tciry,' says Anton Ellglert, an archacolo- gist ¢lt the ship museum. SOCIAL SCIENCE: This passage is adapted from the article "Raiders or Traders? by Andiew Curry IQ2008 by the Smith- sonian I nstitution). Norsemen have tTaditionally been seen as intrepid seafarer,% and ficrce warriois. They traveled thousands of miles to the east and south: across the Baltic, onto the rivers of modern-day Ru8sia and across the Black 5 Sea to menace Congtantinople. The ship sel sail for Dublin on July 1, 2007, undeT 60 dark skies thai presaged Northern Europe's coldest and wettest summer in dccadc,s. Nighttime temperalures plunged below freezing. Three days into the voyage, two crew memberq had been frealed for hYpOther￿la. weak wind% forced the Sell Stallion to take a 24-hour 65 tow acr()s8 part of the North Sea to stay on schedule. All that wandering would have been impossible without ships. For most of the 20th century, archaeolo- gists assurned Ihat all Viking ships resembled a vessel excavated in Norway in 1880. Known as the Gokstad 10 ship, for the farm on which it was found, it dated to the year 900. A replica was sailed acro85 the Atlantic, from Norway to Chicago, for the 1893 World's Fair. But a discovery in 1962 forced researchers to abandon the idea that the Vikings had only onc kind of ship. After the siX-￿'eek test, archaeologists ai the ship museum in Roskilde began analyzing dat<i generated during the voyage. High speeds ovcr long distances pushed the ship to its limits-and challenged some 70 assumptions aboui how the Skuldelev 2 had been put iogether. "The sails are very stable and can take a lot of wind. bul problerns ￿'1th the rudder come up again and again, and haven't been solved yet,, Englert says. 15 At the bottom of a fjord near the Danish town of Roskilde, archaeologists foulld iemnanls of five Vlking ships piled one atop ihe other. Dubbed the Skuldelev ships, for a nearby town, each had had a specialized role. One had been a fighing boat; two were cargo 20 ships, so easy to handle thal a crew of eight could move 20-lon loads: and one was a ￿'arShIp ihat could carry about 30 people. The fifth ship, a raider known as Skuldelev 2, was the bicyge£t. Information from the crew proved as valuable as 75 technical data. EKhausted sailors Lold rcscarLhers that the closc quartcrs made sleeping nearly impossible. Between the rough water, constant rain and their nauti- cal duties, it was all crew memberq could do Lo nap for an houT 01 two during their rest periods. "That indicatcs 8D the ship must have had an amphibious behavior-they had to land often just to get some rest," Englert says. Crossing the North Sea in a narrow ship like this one would have slretched a Viking crew almost to the breaking point, and crossing the Atlk]ntic would have 85 been inconceiiiable. A ship like this would have been used for L'oastal raiding. It was 98 fcet long but 12 feet wide. Its keel 25 reached just three feet below the surface, and its masÈs and sail could be lowered to approach fortifications and settlement8 wilh slealth. Bccause only 20 pcrccnt of thc Skuld¢l¢v 2 could be recoiTered, the only way to determine its capabiliLies 30 for certain was to somehow resurrect arld sail it. Ill 2000, researLhers at the Viking Ship Museum in Roskilde began working with scientists to build an accurate replica. They used thousand-year-old methods and replicas of Viking tools, which meant carving each 35 of the %hip's 90 oak planks ￿'1th axes: wedges, and hamrneTS. Aftei four years, the eight builders had their replica. They called it Sea Stallion froin Glendalough ror the Irish village where Vikings used to find oak for their ships. Wilh its naTTOW beam (width} and shallow 40 draft (the depth a %hip extends below thc waterline). the Sea Stallion could have navigated nearly any river in Europe. But how would it fare on the open seag

Which of Ihe tollowino conclusions about Lhe Viking%' kncjwledge of ship construction is be.st SUPPOTted by the passage,. Ihe Irish. depending OA its intended use. H: They could build ships that didn't require rocks for ballast. powerful slorms, bu( the .ghips were slow.

Based on the passagc, the allthor would mo8t likely agree with which of the following statements about ihe Sea Stallin proved to be more valuable than interview.s with its crelv. with. tnore technical data than 4ailing it had. C, Difficulties with the Sea Stallion's rudder meant that ihe majority ol the ship's design was flawed. partly answered by sailing the Sea Stallion.

The auihor compares the Sea Siallion to a high-tech racer most nearly ti).. explain how fast the replica could sail under poor condition,s. speed of most Viking ship.s. etnphasize the remarkable .%pc¢d the replica could achieve. idelltify in precise terms how fast most Viking ships could .8ail.

The passage indicates Ihat until a discoyery in 1962, researchers had mistakenly believed that Norsemen had.. sailed in only one kind ot ship. crossed thc Atlantic before any orher explorers. ACT-215 33 GO ON TO THE NEXT PAGE. Passage111 underwdter presentation of puppet theater to Hector Bcrlioz's famed composition of the same name, takes such a thought at face iralue and swims to glory with ii. HUMANITIES: Passage A is adapted from the article "The Ani- mated Worlds of Basil Twisy. by Eileen Blumenthal ( 2005 by Theatre ComTllunications Group). Passage B is aéapled from Ihe article "Dancing 'Like a Fish, In Underwater Puppet Theaterf, by Robert Greskovic (@2003 by Dow Jones and Company, Inc.). 50 It's hard to suggesL with word4 just what Twist's Si?niphonie does with the music and within the I,O()O- gallon lank. Connections to Disney's 1940 animated film FantU.5ia come readily to mind, but the one-tor- onc, notc-for-note Mickey M()u%e emphasis favored by 55 Disney's gifted anirnators isn't Twist-s way; he works for a less literal, more free-spirited vision. Passage A by Eileen Blumenthal '1 feel like I'm il little old-fashioned., puppeteer Basil Twist. says master Old-fashionedf) Twist staged S)mphonie Fantas- riqcle (1998} in a I,000-gallon tank of water, For Red 5 Beads (2005), he animated the scenery wilh electric fans, while live actors played the human characters. His puppets for both STr'FnphoiLie Fanta.Ylique and Petrllshka (2001) includcd unadorned lengths of fabric. The cast of Iloatin(y and swirling 'L'haracters" ranges fron] geometric, flat shapes t() anthropomorphic figures, in the form ot whisked lengihs of tabric, 60 unfurled sheets of cloth. and a Vdriety of fringed pieces reminiscent of fcathers. chcerlcadcr pompons or angel- hair-like curtains of filament. ALlually, the contrddiLtion is only skin-deep. 10 Whatevei lechnique5 Twist llses for a particular shoMI thc core for him is the age-old basi% ()f puppetry: as he puts it, 'animating-giN'in¥ breath and soul-to some- thing inanimale." Berlioz's 1830 s>'tnphoniL coniposition comes down to US Shot through with impetuous pa8siDn. Its 65 five ￿0Vernents each have poetic heading%, "A Ball" and "Dream of a Witches. Sabbath:" for example, and were further elaboraied by the composer with specific program notes. Berlioz didn't insist on publishing the indiyidual episodes he imagiiied, but he did want his 70 movement titles printed whenever his symphony was played. Twisl uqes Berlioz's tilles: but not the piogidm oteN. Hi.% fantastical symphony is storyl¢s.s but by no means lacking in character, or even chardcters. When- ever the mu8iL's recurring theme is heard, suggesting 75 the compelling beloved of the original narrative: Twist brin¥s in his most gracefully swimming SW<tth of white fabric, which Yariously takes the shape of an eel, a stingray or a wksp of smoke potent enough to cut through watery depths. Thinking baLk to a fe8tival he attcndcd on the 15 theme "music and puppetry,, Twist recalls, "There was a lot ot Baroque music played on slrange instruments, but li wasn'l a puppet show." Twist decided he would Lreate a visual eqLiivalent of a musical work using iotally absLraci puppet4- 20 pieces of fabric, feather%, Linsel, poles, non-fJgur<itive cutouts. Light of varying color and intensity: bometimes smooth, sometimcs in bursts, would underscore the emotion in the music. And-the clincher-he would get a sense ot" olherworldliness and (liter21} fluidity by 25 staging the show under￿:aler in a giant tank. To animilte this world, hidden puppeteers would work from the sides of the tank and suspended dbove it in harnesses, 80 The aquatic wnrld through which S)pnplionie'5 recurrent w'hite figure winds, 8lip% and streaks is rich with musically motiN'aied aciivity. Sometimes, espe- cially in the little pauscs between rnovements: you can hear some sloshing fri)m puppctecrs readying their 85 labors. RaLher than distracting from the dreamlike nature of the silken proceedings, these signs of human activity help give the show an added gravity. It Twist's symphonic achi6N'em¢nt were creilted by carefully edited animation it would be remarkable enough, but oo the fact that it's done live, by unseen manipulators working through water, makes his theatrical marvels all the more amazing. Twist did temper the abstraction, in a way, by choosing Hector Berli07.'b programmatic S)'mphGllte 30 Fanlastique, which tells in music a story of an artist's obgession with a woman. Bui Twist chose the ivork despite rather than for its Story. He liked the music's emotional richness and dramatic structurc. And even for viewers who knew the "plot" (not mentioned in 35 Twist s program), objects refused to have clear identi- lies. The silk that swirled and swooped to a violin rnelody could be an image ot the protagonisL's beloved, or it could bc his mood, or it Lould be a breeze. Or all of them. The rigid vertical torms could be a vision of 40 prison bars, or a feeling of being pursued, or ()f beillg doomed. Or all ot the￿. Passage B by Robert Greskovic Ill an attempt to defjne music-inspired choreogra- phy, George Balanchin¢ %uggcsted that 'it was like an aquarium: music wa5 all around and the dancer was like 45 a fi,sh." Simphonie Fantaslique, Basil Twist's enchant- ACT.ZI 5 34 GO ON TO THE NEXT PAGE. Questions 21-23 ask about Passage A.

It can rca.sonably be inferred from the passage that one reason researchers constructed a replica of Skuldclev 2 was that- the salvaged ship Wils too incotnpleie for an accu- rate understanding of how it was used. odern vessel,s. build a betler ship than could the Vikings. scientists and researchers were unable to agree on the exact dimensions of the original ship.

According io the passage, the SEa Stallion Irom Glendalough was n(imed after., a river in Europe that wag difficult for Vikings to navigate. a village where Vikings had found oak to build ships. sail.

Compared to the Sed Stallion's trip IT] July 2007: the vessel's expedition in the summer of 2006 is described as a 'virtual pleasure Lruise" (line.g 45-46) because that earlier voyage: took place during better weather and was shorter in duration. allowed the crew moTe time to learn to appreciate the ship. for the Vikings. traveled through calmer waters that allowed repairs to be madc while sailing.

When Engleit uses the phrase ampliibious behai?j(J7" (line 80), he is most nearly referring to the ship's.. steady speed. ability to navigate rivers. maneuverability in heavy rain.

According to the passagc. a ship sitnilar to Ihe Seo Siallion would have been used by thc Vikings foi: crossing the Atlantic Ocean. raiding coastal settlement%. training new sailing crews.

In Passage A, the author refers to Red Beads and Petrllshku primai'ily to: indicate Lhat Twi%t produced other puppet shows inipired by Berlioz. approaLh io puppetry emphasize thc differences between Twist's S)ppi- phonie FllntastiqL4e and his carlier work. explain how prolific Twist ha8 been as a puppeteer.

According to Passage A, which of the following items were used as puppets in Twist'.s S}'mphonie FaniastEque ? l. Poles II. Tinscl Ill. EleLtric fans IV. Lengihs of fabric I, II, and Ill only IV Ollly

As it is used in line 35, the word cledr most nearly innocent. Questions 24-27 ask about Passage B.

The author of Passage B regards Twist's Sjimphonie Fanrastique wilh whal could best be described as.. mild criticism. open appreciation. strong disappointment.

The author puts qu()liition marks around the w()rd Char- c'ters in line 57 most likely to= reveal thc author's doubt that puppet5 can play realistic roles in theatrical perfc)rmances. puppets. emphasize that Tki'ist pushes the IiFt]ils on what can be considered & character. indicate that the term is taken directly frotn Balallchille. ACT-215 35 GO ON TO THE NEXT PAGE. Passage IV NATURAL SCIENCE: This passage is adapted from the article 'The Magic Foresl.. Where Poplars Are Purifying the Planel" by Dava Sobel ((E)2009 by Discover Media LLC). A legacy of the Argonne National Laboratory's early foray into atomic energ). lies buried here on its uampus, about 25 miles 8outhThest of Chicago. Although solid wastes from all sort% of experiments 5 have been sealed in a landfill, certain liquids, mosLIy chlorinated solvent8 like trichloroethane, still taint the water that runs undeT the site. The ongoing attempt to remove ihese contaminants occupies an enorinou experimental facility that Covers four acres and looks 10 like a fi'orest. .1 like to brag that I have the biggest lab al Argonne:" sa}'s agronomist Cristina Negri, indicating an expanse of 900 poplars and willows growing in rows. The trees %iand about 30 feet high. More impor- 15 tant, their roots extend 30 feet down, where thev tap the coniarninaled aquifer ¢ind literally pull pollulants out of the grc)und. Under normal circumstanccs, tree roots prefer to sip water fTum souic¢s as close as possible to Lhe %ur- 20 face. But these trees don't have thai option. They are sct into pla%tic-lined pils that force their rools to tunnel deep for drink. The routs lift the Contaminated water into the tree trunks, whcre trdnsporl tissues conduct it on up to the branches and leaves. From there, as 25 droplets transpire through leaf pores, the water evapo- rates and sunlight breaks down thc dissolved solvent moleculeg, renderinLT them harmless. Before the willows and pop141rs took over the job ot wastewaler management, Argonne was using extrac- 30 lion wells lo pump contaminated water to a treatment plant. But the static rnechanical pumps could not chase &f(er groundth'ater that coniinuajly changcd course through the complex terrain. The natural pump of a willow or poplar, on Lhe other hand, is not only self- 35 8UStaining but SO Wilter-loving that it will snake down or fan out as far as need be to reach moisturc. 50 The technical term t()r this green: and increasingly prevalent, form of environmenial cleanup is phytoremc- diation. At Argonne it will giN'e way, ower the next 20 to 30 years, to ecological resLoialion, ab th¢ pollutants are removed and the worker trees replaced by bur oaks and 55 OtheT hardwoods native to the Great Lakes region. second experimental torcbt. in Murdock, Nebr<i8ka: 18 helping the U.S. Department of Agricul- ture address the mess that it made in COTn-belt commu- nities during the 1960s, when storage drun]s full of 60 grain were routinely fumigated with carbon tetraLhlo- ride to control pest%. The colorle%s liquid seeped into the ground and continues even now to foul the local water supply. When members ot the Argonne team arrived ai 65 Murdock in 2004 for an initial assessment: Ihey found trace levels ot caTboM tet" in the resideTLI i'egctiition. Thcir solution, implemenled the next year, was to create an inslani fi)rest. Most ot the 2,000 planted saplings were poplars alld willows, the same types that 70 had demonslrated their effectiveness in Illinois. By 2007, two years after planting, the exact loLa- tion of the underground plume of conlatllination could be mapped from the surface by examinins the trces. Even in summer, trees in some areas tested clean while 75 Lhose in other8 were qieiidily bringing up Larbon tetra- chloride. Meanwhile. all the trees seemed to have enjoyed unusually rapid growth thanks to anothcr pollu- tant in the Murdock soil: nitrate, possibly from fertiliz- ers applied in the surroullding cornfi¢lds. The compatibility of the forest Eknd the lields con- jures anothcr poplaT dream of combining rcmcdiation with energy production. Negri's colleagues have looked to the popl<irs as a possible Source of ethanol for bio- fuel. The trees, need for plentitul water seemed at first 85 to make thcm a poor choice, since water itself is likely to become scarce. Bul if ihe trees can slake their thirqt with polluted waier, and if they C<in gro￿. on marginal land ill-suited for crops, then their promi%e as aty alter- nate energy source grows doubly &Jreen. 80 Negri's trees each pump as much as 26 gallong of W¢iier per day at their summer peak. She measures the daily flow through the trunks by inserting probes that 40 transmit data to solar-powered recorders mounted on tripods nearby. In summer, trichloroethane levels generally run high (scveral thousand parts per billion). but in winter, after the leaves fall, Ihe roots stop pumping and the 45 bare branches beal no sign of contamination. Since the trees don't accumulate any permanent residue of pollu- tion, thcy can eventually be chopped down and chipped, theiT remains distributed around othcr plantings for 4011 enrichment.

In lines 86tr87, the phra%e 'signs ot human actii'ity" most nearly refers to: sloshing sounds,. individual note% of music. Questions 28-30 ask about both passages.

Compared to Passage A. Pa8%dgc B includes mi)ie information about: the developmetjt of Twi81's career.

The authors of Pa.$8ages A and B would rn081 likely agree that the oyerall feeling T￿,18t created in his S}Im_ ph()nie could best be de,8Lribed as: confused. melancholy.

The primary purpose of the passiige is to., call attention to certain irregponsible wa%te dis- posal practices. spotlight an environmentally friendly wa), to cle<in up contaminated water. identify and describe several diverse uses for poplar Lind willow trees. explain how vegetalion becomes contuininated by leaking landfills. 36 GO ON TO THE NEXT PAGE. ACT-Z15

The maiT] purpose of the firsl paragraph is to: illustrate how the Argonne National LaboraLory generated waste from experiments. explain why there is experimental work being done to remove contarninants at Argonne. Argonne are harmful to the environrnent. landfill at Argonne.

ALcording to the pas.sage, the poplars and ll'illows at Argonne are more efficient than extraciion well.s at removing contaminated water because the trees can". remove ¢1 greater variety of contaminants. s'eek out the contdrninated water.

The miiin idea of the last pardgraph is that poplars may eventually: subsist purely on polluted water.

According io the passage, the poplars and willow.5 at Argonne are placed in plastic-lined pits in order to: secping into the Surrounding soil. btop other species of trees t'rom growing in the Argonne forest. make it easier for .sLieniisis lo n]onitor the trees.

According to the pas8age: what effect, if any, does Argonne's contaminated water have on the poplaT and illow trees that absorb it,? Ihey become contaminated. areil. The trees develop tangled r(Trot systcms.

Based on the passage. phytoremediation can best be described as.. the practice of using trees to remove contaminants from the environment. the practice of replanting native species in a for- merly polluted area. a process by which harmful contarninants leak into soil and groundwateT. a method of rcplacing poplar and willow trees in polluted dreas M'ith hardier trees.

The passage most strongly suggests that nilrale: can act as both a contaminant and a nulrient. is difficult to clean up once IL has entered soil. aidb in the rapid growth of corn wiihout damaging surrounding soil. END OFTEST3 STOP! DO NOT TURN THE PAGE UNTIL TOLD TO DO SO. DO NOT RETURN TO A PREVIOUS TEST. ACT-Z15 37