GRE GRE Certifications GRE-TEST Questions & Answers

• Question 181:

  The author mentions "sentimental novels" primarily to

  A. account for the increased attention being paid to certain kinds of writing

  B. explain the relative obscurity of some categories of literature

  C. question an assumption shared by certain scholars

  D. emphasize the apparent incongruity of a scholarly omission

  E. note the literary diversity of a particular historical period

  Correct Answer: D

• Question 182:

  In 1755 British writer Samuel Johnson published an acerbic letter to Lord Chesterfield rebuking his patron for neglect and declining further support. Johnson's rejection of his patron's belated assistance has often been identified as a key moment in the history of publishing, marking the end of the culture of patronage. However, patronage had been in decline for 50 years, yet would survive, in attenuated form, for another 50. Indeed. Johnson was in 1762 awarded a pension by the Crown--a subtle form of sponsorship, tantamount to state patronage. The importance of Johnson's letter is not so much historical as emotional: it would become a touchstone for all who repudiated patrons and for all who embraced the laws of the marketplace.

  The author of the passage mentions Johnson's 1762 pension award in order to

  A. provide a specific example of patronage's surviving into the second half of (he eighteenth century

  B. emphasize that patronage still helped support Johnson's writing after his letter to Chesterfield

  C. provide evidence for a general trend in the later half of the

  D. eighteenth century of private patronage's being replaced by state sponsorship

  Correct Answer: B

• Question 183:

  The book's approach to modern art was hardly_________: it aimed simply to give readers a deeper understanding of prevailing perspectives in the field.

  A. revisionist

  B. conventional

  C. calculated

  D. innocuous

  E. decipherable

  Correct Answer: A

• Question 184:

  Cole makes the argument that while some advocates of government transparency seem to treat any exposure of state secrets as an (i)_________. that position is (ii)_________; there are many legitimate bases for (hi)_________ disclosures. Cole contends, particularly when they reveal the identities of sources and methods of foreign intelligence.

  A. abuse of power

  B. ambiguous act

  C. unmitigated good

  D. untenable

  E. understandable

  F. commonplace

  G. condemning

  H. condoning

  I. extolling

  Correct Answer: CDG

• Question 185:

  When Ms. Alvarez campaigns, she lends to_________small towns: most of her campaign appearances occur in large population centers and media markets.

  A. denigrate

  B. eschew

  C. romanticize

  D. shun

  E. castigate

  F. overlook

  Correct Answer: DF

• Question 186:

  Given the_________of archival materials related to her subject, it is not surprising that the author is unable to marshal much detailed documentary evidence to support some of her claims.

  A. diversity

  B. paucity

  C. accessibility

  D. orderliness

  E. profusion

  Correct Answer: B

• Question 187:

  One of the remarkable things about (i)________is that it can seem so (li)________: many of the issues about which people (iii)________seem, to the nonzealot. to be gray and ambiguous at the core.

  A. erudition

  B. duplicity

  C. conviction

  D. benign

  E. self-serving

  F. unreasonable

  G. feel absolute certainty

  H. fail to educate themselves

  I. find themselves puzzled

  Correct Answer: AFH

• Question 188:

  The complex topic of whether bilingualism enhances cognitive functions beyond language, the so-called "bilingual advantage." is an intensely debated subject. Research results can be influenced by many variables, including the definition of bilingualisni itself. The previous focus on what was perceived to be a classical case of bilingualism (early, simultaneous acquisition of more than one language) has been largely replaced by a more inclusive definition. based on the ability to communicate rather than a perfect command. Indeed, improvement in cognitive functions has been reported after only one week of an intensive language course. Conversely, inactive bilinguals. who were early balanced bilinguals in their childhood but moved to an exclusive use of one language in later life, perform differently from active bilinguals and more like monolinguals.

  Iii the context of the passage as a whole, the reference to "improvement in cognitive functions" primarily serves to

  A. reiterate one of the main benefits of being bilingual

  B. provide support for a particular research approach to bilingualism

  C. illustrate how language acquisition promotes learning in general

  D. emphasize the ease with which a person can learn a second language

  E. encourage an intensive approach to language acquisition

  Correct Answer: A

• Question 189:

  Other company insiders have recently offered testimony that_________several of the more lurid anecdotes found in Belmer's account, though that testimony hardly minimizes the company's culture of malfeasance and mismanagement.

  A. tempers

  B. corroborates

  C. outdoes

  D. exploits

  E. foreshadows

  Correct Answer: B

• Question 190:

  When Flemish painter Anthony Van Dyck moved to England in 1632 to become court painter to Charles The introduced an entirely new way of representing dress in portraiture. In women's portraits. he left off fashionable accessories, depicted subjects in unbuttoned sleeves and collars, and added lavish drapery and jewels. For the first time an artist actively participated in dressing his subjects, creating an amalgam of fantasy and reality. While Van Dyck was most innovative when representing women, he used similar elements in portraits of men.

  Van Dyck's Portrait of Thomas Killigrew and Willian. Lord Crofts (1638) demonstrates how the artist relaxed and unbuttoned men's dress to accord with an underlying theme. The double portrait may be seen as an essay in grief: Killigrew. a poet and playwright, had lost his wife Cecelia to the plague shortly before the sitting, and Crofts was her nephew. The painting contains clear references to the situation at hand. The background features a broken column, a traditional emblem of earthly transience. A drawing in Killigrew's right hand depicts two Itinerary monuments. Crofts holds a blank sheet of paper, seen by some scholars as an analog to the drawing Killigrew holds: a symbol of what is gone.

  At historians have interpreted the clothing depicted in this portrait, particularly Crofts' doublet which is worn unbuttoned in back, as an allusion to the subjects' grief-stricken distraction. It is true that Killigrew's dress includes references to his loss--he wears a cross inscribed with his wife's initials. There is an intimate nature to this painting, which seems underscored by the loose clothing worn by both subjects. However, diis reading of the costumes as signs of grief does not take account of seventeenth-century fashion conventions. Only Killigrew appears in noticeably disheveled attire;

  Crofts" dress would be quite appropriate for a formal portrait. Though black clothing, such as that won by Crofil, was common for mourning, it was also ordinary on other occasions. Furthermore, during the first stage of mounting no shiny surfaces, such as Crofts' satin doublet, would be permitted. The unbuttoned slit on Crofts" doublet was probably a matter of style: a French courtier in a 1635 fashion print by Bosse. who is gallivanting rather than grieving, wears a similarly undone doublet. Evidence suggests that by the late 1630s a certain calculated looseness was conventional in men's formal dress. Ribeiro. for example, cites the writings of moralists objecting to this style.

  Killigrew's attire, though even looser than Crofts", should not necessarily be associated with grief. Other seventeenth-century subjects depicted in melancholic states do not dress this way. Although Killigrew's "undress" lends this portrait a distinctive intimacy, it might also refer to Killigrew's literary career. Many of Van Dyck's other subjects who engaged in literary pursuits are depicted in loose clothing. The blank sheet held by Crofts may be a reminder not only of Killigrew's loss but also of his solace: he had but to express his grief in writing.

  The passage suggests which of the following about Van Dyck's portraits of men?

  A. They included fewer fashionable accessories than did his portraits of women.

  B. They frequently depicted subjects in states of melancholy or mounting.

  C. They gave less attention to men's clothing than did most paintings of the time.

  D. They did not usually include loose or disheveled clothing

  E. They were less innovative than were his portraits of women.

  Correct Answer: E