GRE GRE Certifications GRE-TEST Questions & Answers

• Question 31:

  Despite the (i)_________name given to the fossil species, the fossil itself was (ii)_________: a wing bone, it measured nearly 0.6 meters (two feed long, indicating that its owner had been a very large bird, twice the size of some modern albatrosses.

  A. uninspiring

  B. ambiguous

  C. suggestive

  D. primitive

  E. ancient

  Correct Answer: AE

• Question 32:

  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 author of the passage suggests that if the cited "art historians" had taken account of seventeenth-century fashion, they would have been more likely to

  A. recognize that the clothing worn by the subjects in the Portrait contributes to an atmosphere of intimacy in the painting

  B. recognize the extent to which Van Dyck"s approach to portraiture represented a departure from the practices of other artists

  C. recognize that Crofts* manner of dress in the Pom-ait was appropriate for a formal portrait

  D. conclude that the doublet worn bv Crofts in the Portrait is not made of satin

  E. be able to distinguish between the significance of the unbuttoned doublet depicted in the Portrait and that of the one depicted in a fashion print by Bosse

  Correct Answer: C

• Question 33:

  Economists use two competing models to describe the effects of commercial advertising--advertising as market competition and advertising as market power. The market competition model holds that the fundamental function of advertising is to provide information about products and brands. It is argued that information in ads permits greater marketplace efficiencies, such as lower prices and reduced monopoly power. In a similar vein, much discussion regarding political advertising has rested on its informational value Does political advertising provide political information and help voters make informed decisions'1 Nelson argues that promoting bars of soap in commercial ads is no different than promoting political ideas ideology from political candidates in political ads. on the grounds that information is being distributed m both cases. Others, such as Ferguson and Jamieson, disagree with Nelson's proposition Ferguson, for example, pointed out that choosing a political candidate is more like buying an experience good (where the quality is hard to evaluate prior to purchase) rather than a search good (where the quality is easily evaluated before the purchase). According to Ferguson, claims in political ads do not have true informational value, because it is difficult for voters to draw inferences about the future deeds of a candidate from what the ads say Furthermore. Jamieson argues that political ads reshape the public image of political candidates and change voters' feelings about the candidates with subtle emotional cues but without substantive information upon which to base a reasoned judgment.

  The passage implies that Ferguson and Jamieson agree that political advertising

  A. focuses primarily on the communication of subtle emotional cues

  B. Is largely ineffective at promoting particular candidates

  C. misleads voters about the beliefs and future actions of candidates

  D. has only a temporary effect on the public images of candidates

  E. cannot be relied upon by voters who want to make informed decisions

  Correct Answer: C

• Question 34:

  The relevance of the literary personality--a writer's distinctive attitudes, concerns, and artistic choices--to the analysis of a literary work is being scrutinized by various schools of contemporary criticism. Deconstructionists view the literary personality, like the writer's biographical personality, as irrelevant. The proper focus of literary analysis, they argue, is a work's intertextuality (interrelationship with other texts), subtexts (unspoken, concealed. or repressed discourses), and metatexts (self-referential aspects), not a perception of a writer's verbal and aesthetic "fingerprints." New historicists also devalue the literary personality, since, in their emphasis on a work's historical context, they credit a writer with only those insights and ideas that were generally available when the writer lived. However, to readers interested in literary detective work--say scholars of classical (Greek and Roman) literature who wish to reconstruct damaged texts or deduce a work's authorship-- the literary personality sometimes provides vital clues.

  Which of the following does the author mention in the passage as a concern of (^constructionists?

  A. A knowledge of the writer's other literary works

  B. A knowledge of the writer's artistic preferences

  C. A cognizance of a work's unarticulated ideas

  D. An appreciation of a work's aesthetic distinctiveness

  E. An awareness of a work's relation to the era in which it was written

  Correct Answer: A

• Question 35:

  People who come to believe false rumors often do so quite (i)_________in the sense mat their new belief

  (ii)_________their existing knowledge. This problem is especially acute on the Internet. Rumors often arise and gain

  traction because they fit with, and support, the prior convictions of those who accept them.

  A. tentatively

  B. rationally

  C. cynically

  D. coheres with

  E. detracts from

  F. substitutes for

  Correct Answer: BD

• Question 36:

  The highly dispersed nature of Panzaleo pottery throughout present-day Ecuador has led archaeologists to speculate about the pottery's origins and significance. Jijon y Caamano attributed the pottery's distribution to trade, and based on the large quantities of pottery recovered in the Ambato-Latacunga region of the central Ecuadorian highlands, he proposed that region as the probable locus of production. However. Porras suggests that inhabitants of the subtropical eastern Andean slopes, or montafta, were the original producers of Panzaleo. Porras: theory involves the forced migration of the montaria population from their homeland in the Quijos River valley into the Ecuadorian highlands. The gradual exodus and ensuing dispersal of the makers of this ware could account for the diffuse distribution of the materials.

  The passage cites evidence supporting which of the following hypotheses?

  A. Jijon y Caamaflos hypothesis about the relationship between trade and the distribution of Panzaleo pottery

  B. Jijon y Caamanos hypothesis about the probable locus of Panzaleo pottery production

  C. Porrasr hypothesis about who the original producers of Panzaleo pottery were

  D. Porras' hypothesis about the forced migration of certain peoples

  E. Porras' hypothesis about the dispersal of the original makers of Panzaleo porter)"

  Correct Answer: C

• Question 37:

  In the late eighteenth and early nineteenth centuries, during the period of the American Revolution and the early republic, political poems appeared regularly in newspapers and pamphlets. commenting on the issues and controversies engaging the new nation. Given the sheer number of poems that engaged explicitly with politics, one might wonder why the form has remained largely ignored by scholars of early American literature even as many other once obscure forms-sentimental novels, diaries, travelogues, belles letters--have enjoyed unprecedented scholarly interest in recent decades. Part of the reason may stem from frustrations involved with reading poems that are so highly topical--often requiring, even as a condition of first-level comprehension, a familiarity with names and references that, while wholly recognizable in their own time, are obscure to modem readers. Yet beyond this is the fact that American political verse from the eighteenth and early nineteenth centuries has never fully shaken off the verdict, delivered by its earliest generation of scholarly readers. that it is simply unworthy of serious attention as literature. Even the term commonly used to describe it--"verse." as opposed to "poetry"-- suggests an occasional or forgettable, rather than enduring, form of expression, not quite deserving the designation of poetry. Nor was such verse considered by early critics as worthy of the designation "American." as the tendency of eighteenth-century American poets to model their works on those of British precursors suggested an unforgivable failure, as one critic described it. to declare their "literary independence" from Britain.

  The passage suggests which of the following about the "earliest generation**?

  A. Its literary tastes were less heterogeneous than most scholarship has acknowledged.

  B. Its literary- preferences were largely shaped by an affinity for literature written in Great Britain.

  C. Its views on a particular issue have not generally been superseded by significantly different ones today.

  D. Its influence on the development of American literature has been overestimated by some scholars.

  E. Its attitude toward a particular type of verse was generally more favorable than that of later generations.

  Correct Answer: C

• Question 38:

  Whereas Hellennan attribured her (i)_________as a pianist to her teacher's pedagogical (ii)_________. her teacher attributed them to Hellennan*s own desultory practice habits.

  her teacher

  A. struggles

  B. exploits

  C. accomplishments

  D. exertions

  E. eccentricities

  F. adroitness

  Correct Answer: CD

• Question 39:

  According 10 the classical idea of space-time reality, two particles, identical or not, can be distinguished by tracing the motion of the particles along their trajectories. This idea is (1)________that the particles can be observed continuously, a belief that is (ii)________with respect to macroscopic bodies, but not with respect to free atoms. which (iii)________constant observation.

  A. based on the assumption

  B. incompatible with the view

  C. entailed by the fact

  D. fortuitous

  E. innovative

  F. tenable

  G. elude

  H. warrant

  I. abet

  Correct Answer: AFH

• Question 40:

  Many shipwrecks dating from the period between A.D. 300 and 600 have been discovered in the Remain Sea. Well over half of those ships were carrying cargo stored in large ceramic jars, many of which were preserved largely intact on the ocean floor. During that period, such jars carried only liquid. Therefore, liquid cargo was probably carried by a majority of the cargo ships that navigated the Ramian Sea during that period.

  The force of the evidence cited in the passage is most seriously weakened if which of the following is true?

  A. For ships on the Ramian Sea during the period, a full load of liquid cargo stored in large ceramic jars was not likely to be significantly heavier than a full load of other kinds of cargo that were typical of the period.

  B. There are no surviving records dating from the period that detail specific cargoes shipped across the Ramian Sea.

  C. The ratio of liquid to solid cargo shipped across the Ramian Sea did not vary significantly over the period.

  D. The presence of a sizable quantity of large ceramic jars on the ocean floor is so visually striking that a shipwreck of a ship carrying such jars is more likely to be noticed and reported than are shipwrecks of ships carrying other cargoes.

  E. During the period, grain and other solid cargo was shipped across the Ramian Sea in containers made from material other than clay.

  Correct Answer: D