ACT Past Papers with Answers

Source question 2. Refer to the source image.

When the narrator mentions "rituals of a friendship" (line 14), he's most nearly referring to". unusual acts of kindness performed at great cost to both friends. everyday activities routinely undertaken with someone else. moments with someone. giving of debts.

The narrator speculates that one reason for his bond with Brewster rnight have been that: friends, which led the narrator to feel protective of Brewster. the narrator's positive experience helping his own father. feelings of guilt regarding his relationship with his own father. the narrator knew from talking with Brewster's son that Brewster could use a friend in the apart- ment complex.

The passage reveals that when Brewster was evicted from the apartment complex, he offered to share a house with the narrator. The narrator indicates that he viewed this offer as: entirely unexpected, which accounts for the narra- tor's surprised reaction. rather predictable, which didn't keep the narrator from strnggling to respond. rashly made, which explains the na￿atOr'S hesitancy. actually insincere, which left the narrator feeling annoyed.

As it is used in line 64, the word station most nearly means: status.

The narrator claims that since Brewster moved out of the apartment complex. the narrator's own circum- stances have". improved greatly. improved slightly. not improved. worsened greatly.

As the narrator looks back on the period he knew Brewster, the narrator realizes that he: enjoyed it greatly while it was happening, but now regards it with aiiguish and guilt. complained a great deal wliile li was happening. but now regards li fondly. ch<inged his mind since tlien. appreciated it while it was happening, and time has simply increased his appreciation.

In the context of the passagc, the concluding two sen- tences (line 89) arc most likely meant to suggest that.. a painful realization is being downplayed. a halfhearted attempt at reconciliation has been rejected. an unusual offer is being happily accepted. a serious argument has been settled peaceably. ACT-71G www. actmi. net 31 GO ON TO THE NEXT PAGE. V<V4 7.1 Passage11 SOCIAL SCIENCE: This passage is adapted from the articlg "Greaning the World's Most Popular Fruit" by Christine Mlot (¢)2004 by National Wildllfe Federation). Tlie banan<1 has a huge fan base. Babies love its easy-lo-eal-and-digest bweetness. athletes gulp it for potassium-rich quick energy. The banana is popular woi"Idwide, with mor- than 25 pounds consutned annu- 5 ally per capita in the United States, most eaten straight out of the wrapper. In East Africa, where bananas and their plantain cousins are dietary staples, consumption is seven timcs that amount. What the banana lacks, though, is a huge genetic 10 base. The familiar yellow fruit-botanically, a berry- is largely derived from a single variety known as Cavendish, grown on plants that are essentially cuttings, or clones, of the same stock. The lack of sexual repro- duction, with its mixing of genes, leaves the crop vul- 15 nerable to diseases and pests such as fungi, viruses, bacteria, insects and roundworms, some of which have become epidemic in recent years. This means that conventional banana production depends heavily on pesticides and lots of them. 20 Fungicides, for example, may be applied 40 times a year, even though the chemicLils lose their effeciiveness with overuse. Worse, these highly ioxic compounds often drift or Tun off of farm fields, posing a threat to fish, birds and other species-including humans. Even 25 more poisonous to people aiid ihe environment are the nematicides typically used to control roundworm pests. And conventional banana production generates a host of other problems as well-from rivers polluted with eroded sediment and plastic waste to tropical forests 30, razed to carve out new plalltations. These environrnental problems, along with histori- cally poor conditions for banana workers, have prompted several organizdtions to ci'eatc certification and seals of approval for producers that Ineet certain 35 environmental and social staiidards. In addition. a small but growing number of exporters are harvesting organi- ally grown bananas, eschewing agrochemicals alto- gether. The result: Consumers today have a much greater opportunity to purchase bananas that are 40 friendly to the environment than even a decade ago. The Better Banana Project, sponsored by the New York-based Rainforest Alliance, is one of the oldest certification effoits. Launched in 1991, Lt requires pro- ducers to mailltaill health and safety standards for 45 workers and to demonstrate reduced pesticide use and other sound environment practices such as soil conscr- vation and proper waste disposal. Today 15 percent of all bananas traded on the global market are cerLified by the project. One major global producer has converted 50 all of its Latin American farms to meet the project's standards. an orgallic agiiculture consultant to small-scale farmers 55 in Costa Rica. The use of toxic nematicides, for exam- ple, has been 111< Ived on certified farms, and tons of blue plastic bag8 and twine. which once littered virtually all banaiia fclrms, have been recycled through the program. In c1dditkon. pay and Cither benefits for workers have 60 improved gre¢ltly. Thanks to efforts of project partici- P<inls. 'Ihe b11 n¥2na indiistry is making a long, slow 180- degree turn,. says ihe Rainforest Alliance's Chris Wille. one of ilie project's founders. "Now there's even competition among workers to get jobs on certified 65 farms and competition between farms to see who can have the cleanest and greenest one." For pesticide-free fruit, one can choose organic bananas. Though less thali one percent of the bananas sold in the United States now are organic, that fraction 70 is growing by more than 20 percent per year nationally and by 30 percent globally. according to the United Nations Food aiid AgriLulturc Organization. Certified oiganic bananas are taking root through- out Latin Anerica. often in drier habitats where harrn- 75 ful fungi don't occur. The Dominican Republic is the region's biggest eKporter of organic bananas. followed by Mexico and Colombia. Small- and medium-scale growers are even managing to grow organic bananas in Cosla Rica. where the fungal disease black sigatoka is a 80 constant i)roblem for large produLers. By plantiiig banan<lS in the shade in conibinl¢ lion wilh other mar- ketable crops such as cacao, these producers can get a modest but pesticide-free crop that commands a pre- mium price. U.S. consumers looking for organic 85 bananas can often find them in natural food stores and even main grocery chains for just slightly more than conventionally grown bananas. The fruit that sustains hundreds of millions of people is itself slowly becoming a more sustainable 90 crop-

It can most reasonably be inferred that the author's reason for including a variety of problems associated with banana pioduction is to: convince readers not to eat so rnany bananas. prodiiction. encourage readers to think of new solutions to the problems of banana production. show readers the need for the innovations dis- cussed in the passage.

The passage's description of the Better Banana Project reveals that the project has as one of its goals to: improve the taste of bananas. change the way bananas are traded in world rnarkets. improve conditions for workers in the banana industry. reduce the quantity of bananas produced. The Better Banana Project has "improved condi- tions on all [of that bTand's] plantations greatly," says AGT-71G 32 GO ON TO THE NEXT PAGE. www. actmi. net 'yCf

The passage indicates that attempts to protect the banana crop during conventional banana production may result in: many of the bananas being wasted.

The passage states that in order to become certified, banana producers must, among other things, do all of the following EXCEPT: maintain healthful conditions for workers.

The passage indicates that compared to conventionally grown bananas, organic bananas are somewhat more". costly to ship. expensive to buy. widely purchased.

The passage notes that enormous amounts of pesticides are used in conventional banana production despite the fact that: rnost bananas are derived from a single variety. bananas are attacked by an increasingly wide vari- ety of pests. overusing the effectiveness. chemicals decreases their

The passage refers to nematicides as being used to control: roundwornis. viruses.

The last paragraph leaves the reader with the clear impression that the banana industry is: rapidly expanding. slowly disappearing. ACT.71G www. actmi. net 33 GO ON TO THE NEXT PAGE. Passage111 50 bats would appear. They lived above the porch, between the ceiling and the roof. We never saw or heard them during the day. But at nightfall their squeaks began, like an orchestra tuning its instruments before a concert, and it was as if the ceiling came alive. Occasionally. a little one would fall to the floor through a crack in the ceiling either pushed by a thoughtless adult or as a result of its own carelessness. Even though it was not l.eady tu fly yet. by instincl the little bai would open its Tnembranoiis wings, glide 60 down, and laiid *ilive, alihough perliaps somewhai stlinned. SomeLimes an aduli bat would come immedi- ately to the rescue. Thell the little one would cling to the adult's chest and enjoy a safe return knome. But on occasions when no adult came, we had to decide 65 whether to fetch the tall ladder and try to place the baby ba¢k in the nest. or keep it in a shoe box and feed it with my doll's bottle. Fortunately, this only happened once in a while. HUMANITIES: This passage is adapted from the memoir Under the Royal Palms.. A Childhood in Cuba by Alma Flor Ada (Q1998 by Alma Flor Ada). Daily life in ￿ Quinta Simoni started very early in the morning. The placid night fragrances of jasmine and gardenias, which entered my bedroom from the garden. were quickly overtaken by the acrid but 5 friendly smell of coffee brewing. 55 Before I was fully awake, rny grandmother would often scoop me in her arms to take me to where they were rnilking the cows she still kept. When we returned to the house, everyone would 10 be bustling about, getting ready to leave-my father to teach at the high school, my uncle Manolo to the radio station, Lny uncle Medardo to his office. my allnt Lolita to her classes, and my grandtnothei to the school she ran. Most nights, my grandmother and I would pretend 70 to count the bats as they left their nest to feed on the fruit froni our backyard: sweet mangoes, guavas, soft and delicious nisperos. We knew already that it was impossible io keep a true i<illy, because in a few min- utes their number would increase from a handful cir- 75 clÉng over our heads to several dozens, coming and going, so that we were unable to tell which were the ones just leaving ihe nest. Counling ihem over and over again, we would finally give up and burst oui laughing, at the bats. ai ourselves, at our game, and at the delight- 80 ful warnith of the night. fragrani with the aroma of jas- mine and gardenÉas. My aunts and my mother would smile, and shake their heads: "There go those two. counling bats again 15 Before long the big house was all my mother's and mine. While she worked on hei bookkeepillg ledgers, I would spend hours playing outside, under the trees, just by myself. Every afternoon, around four o'clocL I had to take 20 a bath and get dressed "for the evening., I would set aside the boots I hated, with their hard insoles to sup- port my flat feet, and put on my white shoes with a Iittle strap on top and a buckle on the side. As my Tnother tied the bow at the back of my dress, I felt like a 25 butterfly, daily forced to return to her chrysalis, and daily freed again. The next thing to be done each afternoon was to gather maravillas. These simple wild flowers-red, orange. white, puryle, or spotted-opened late in the 30 day. It was as if, like me. they led two lives: one curled up and wrinkled ill the heat of the day, one open and splendid in the late afternoon as the sun began to go down. They grew plentifully on all empty lot about half a block frorn the old Quinta Simoni. I would walk 35 proudly down the sidewalk, glancing at my shoes, Teady to gather as many flowers as I could. The quiet serenity of those evenings and the tender 85 love my grandmother and I shared has nourished me often throughout my life. On the many occasions when I have later felt that I am once more trying to count bats. engaged in an impossible task, I have allowed myself to laugh. happy to remember that some of the 90 best things in life are like counting bats: It was never the final count that mattered, but rather the joy of seeing them fly. On my return. rny grandmother would be waiting for me on the front porch, sitting in a rocking chair, i?ady to praise the beauty of my simple offering. Then, 40 we would both go on tip-toes. as if approaching an altar, to place the flowers on top of the piano, a ritual thdi pleased us both,

The point of view from which the passage is told is best described as that of: a young girl talking about being a child in La Quinta Simoni. a young girl describing how her imagination helps her understand her day-to-day life. an adult reflecting on a typical day of her young childhood. an adult conveying her childhood thoughts and actions in third person. Once the ritt]al was finished, we would walk hand in hand out to the large front porch with its high 45 masonry arches. She would sit in the rocking chair. I would sit on the steps a few feet away, listening to her sing verses set to music she herself had composed. And the night would fall around us, almost without notice, as it does in the tropics. Then the f￿st of tb¢ ACT.71G GO ON TO THE NEXT PAGE. www. actmi. net ¥1

It can most reasonably be inferred from the passage that the author's white shoes contributed to making her feel: worried about getting her evening attire dirty. uncomfortable because they do not support her flat feet. similar to them.

In the fifth and sixth paragraphs (lines 19-36), the author constructs a contrast primarily between the: work her family completed at home late in the afterDOOll and the work they did away from the house during the day. relationship she had with her grandmother and the one she had with her mother. image she had of herself in the heat of the day and the one she had in the late afternoon. her day.

It can most reasonably be inferred from the passage that when a baby bat fell to the floor. the author most preferred to: nurse it with her doll's bottle. watch an adult bat rescue it.

In the context of the passage, the pl]rase has nourished nie (line 85) can most nearly be paraphrased as: sustained me with nutrients. raised me like a child. ACT-71G www. actmi. net 35 GO ON TO THE NEXT PAGE. Passage IV even a tenured professor, but a meTe mathematics instructor specialising in computer systems. Yet he has fornlidable allies such as David Gross (the Nobel Lau- reate theoretical physicist), Roger Penrose (the world- 55 class mathematician) and Lee Smolin (the leading cosmologist), plus all accumulating constituency of other big-name supporters. NATURAL SCIENCE: This passage is adapted from the artlcle "The Dean of Debunking. by John Cornwell (@2006 by Times Newspap8rs Ltd.). Cornwell is reviewing the book Not Even Wrong.. The Failure of Strlng Theory and the Continuing Chall8ng8 to Unify the Laws of Physic8 by Peter Woit, Woit grants that an explanation for gravity is use- fully embedded in string theory, but he challenges its 60 authenticity as proper science. In his view. string theory offers no foreseeable prospect of making predictions, a crucial criterion for any theory worthy of the name. Matching the theory with the way we see the world, he argues, depends on believing in several tiny unobserved 65 spatial dimensions wrapped around each other. Henc¢ there is an infinite numbei of possible choices as to how one would make predictions, and nobody knows how to determine which choice is COTrect. What is the basic, unifying stuff of our universe? One philosopher in ancient Greece thought that every- thing was reducible to water, another to air. Later, a philosopher called Democritus taught that the world is 5 ultimately made up of tiny. eternal particles of varying weight known as "atoms" which form and re-form as nature undergoes its constant round of change, death and rebirth. Today. 2,500 years on, and after several great revolutions in modern physics, a large and 10 expanding community of scientists believes that the basic stuff of our universe is "strings" Hence "string theory" Woit's second main objection is that string theory 70 offers no possibility of producing experimental evi- dence. Even the proposed prodigiously expeiisive class of accelerators known as Superconducting Super Col- liders (SSCS), he claini8, would have failed to provide the merest clue as to whether ihe Iheory had merit. These are no ordinary strings. The physicists envisage tiny, vibrating, folding alld elongating coils of 15 energy, each 100 billion billion times smaller than the protons at the nucleus of an atom" so small, indeed, that they can be understood only in terms of extremely sophisticated mathematics impenetrable to all but an elite of specialists. 75 Woit's most compelling accusation. however, is that the domination of string theory in universities has stifled progress in alternuiive research programmes within theoretical physics. As long as the leadership of the physics community refuses to accept that string 80 theory is a 'failed project" he writes, 'there is little likelihood of new ideas finding fertile ground ID which to grow" 20 String theory. which nowadays dominates the research programmes and main funding of theoretical physics in many western universities. was not so much discovered as invented in order to solve a vexing explanatory deficit. In the early 1970s, physicists 25 announced tlie so-called 'standard model" a tlieory that seeks agreement between the contrasting realms of super-huge objects, such a.s stars and planets (known as relativity). and ihe super-small realms of the subatomic (known as quantum). The standard model, however, 30 failed to explain gravity. Enter string theory to rectify the problem. In its simplest terms, this complex set of notions clairns 10 or I I space dimensions (as opposed to the three of everyday human percepiion), and assumes a "landscape" of myriad elementary bundles of 35 energy (strings) that interface not only with the uni- verse we inhabit but a multiplicity of unseen and unknowable parallel universes. Now ihat Woit has thrown a wild cai aniong the theoreticians, we can be sure that the ruffled string- 85 theory advocates will be preparing a rebuttal. Woit, the humble maths insiructor. has nothing to lose in terms of academic standing. but physics might have much to gain from his boldness. While his book tends to be neg- ative, it may well shake up a community of scientists 90 that has evidently become complacent if not entirely ossified in its thinking. But is string theory true? Peter Woit, a mathemati- clan at Columbia UniveTsity* has challenged the entire 40 string-theory discipline by proclaiming that its lOPiC is not a genuine theory at all and that many of its expo- nents do not understand the complex matliematics it employs. String theory. he avers, has become a form of science fiction.

It can reasonably be inferred from the passage that by titling his book Not Even Wrong, Woit was trying to suggest that string theory: isn't a real theory capable of being tested. is the leading theory of the universe's basic stuff.

Based on the passage, the phrase vexing explanatory deficit (lines 23-24) most precisely refers to an inabi]- ity to explain: string theory. the standard rnodel.

According to the passage, Woit believes that many supporters of sti'ing theory don't: care whether the theory is popular. even know the standard model exists. grasp the mathematics used in the theory.

As a piece of writing, Woit's book is judged by the passage's author to be: impenetrabIe to all but elite specialists in the field of physics. impressive in the power and ease with which its ideas are conveyed. unprecedented in the number of subjects it attempts to take on. oversimplified in an attempt to appeal to nonscientists.

The passage states that Woit specializes in: computer systems. cosmology.

As it is used in line 58, the word grants most nearly refers to the idea of: conceding a point. receiving research molley.

According to the passage, Woit views the use of Super- conducting Super Colliders to test string theory as an idea that is.. commendable. risky. intriguing. senseless. END OFTEST 3 STOP! DO NOT TURN THE PAGE UNTIL TOLD TO DO SO. DO NOT RETURN TO A PREVIOUS TEST. ACT-71G www. actmi. net 37