In the sixteenth century, an age of great marine and terrestrial exploration, Ferdinand Magellan led the first expedition to sail around the world. As a young Portuguese noble, he served the king of Portugal, but he became involved in the quagmire of political intrigue at court and lost the king's favor. After he was dismissed from service to the king of Portugal, he offered to serve the future Emperor Charles V of Spain. A papal decree of 1493 had assigned all land in the New World west of 50 degrees W longitude to Spain and all the land east of that line to Portugal. Magellan offered to prove that the East Indies fell under Spanish authority. On September 20, 1519, Magellan set sail from Spain with five ships. More than a year later, one of these ships was exploring the topography of South America in search of a water route across the continent. This ship sank, but the remaining four ships searched along the southern peninsula of South America. Finally, they found the passage they sought near a latitude of 50 degrees S. Magellan named this passage the Strait of All Saints, but today we know it as the Strait of Magellan. One ship deserted while in this passage and returned to Spain, so fewer sailors were privileged to gaze at that first panorama of the Pacific Ocean. Those who remained crossed the meridian we now call the International Date Line in the early spring of 1521 after ninety-eight days on the Pacific Ocean. During those long days at sea, many of Magellan's men died of starvation and disease. Later Magellan became involved in an insular conflict in the Philippines and was killed in a tribal battle. Only one ship and seventeen sailors under the command of the Basque navigator Elcano survived to complete the westward journey to Spain and thus prove once and for all that the world is round, with no precipice at the edge.
Four of the ships sought a passage along a southern ________________.
A. coastPassage
The Marshmallow Test for Grownups
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Originally conducted by psychologist Walter Mischel in the late 1960s, the Stanford marshmallow test has become a touchstone of developmental psychology. Children at Stanford's Bing Nursery School, aged four to six, were placed in a
room furnished only with a table and chair. A single treat, selected by the child, was placed on the table. Each child was told if they waited for 15 minutes before eating the treat, they would be given a second treat. Then they were left alone in
the room. Follow-up studies with the children later in adolescence showed a correlation between an ability to wait long enough to obtain a second treat and various forms of life success. And a 2011 fMRI study conducted on 59 original
participants ?now in their 40s ?by Cornell's B.J. Casey showed higher levels of brain activity in the prefrontal cortex among those participants who delayed immediate gratification in favor of a greater reward later on. This finding is important
because of the research that's emerged on the critical role played by the prefrontal cortex in directing our attention and managing our emotions.
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As adults, we face a version of the marshmallow test nearly every waking minute of every day. We're not tempted by sugary treats, but by our browser tabs, phones, and tablets ?all the devices that connect us to the global delivery system for
those blips of information that do to us what marshmallows do to preschoolers.
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Sugary treats tempt us into unhealthy eating habits because the agricultural and commercial systems that meet our nutritional needs today are so vastly different from the environment in which we evolved as a species. Early humans lived in a
calorie-poor world, and something like a piece of fruit was both rare and valuable. Our brains developed a response mechanism to these treats that reflected their value ?a surge of interest and excitement, a feeling of reward and
satisfaction ?which we find tremendously pleasurable. But as we've reshaped the world around us, radically diminishing the cost and effort involved in obtaining calories, we still have the same brains we evolved thousands of years ago. This
mismatch is at the heart of why so many of us struggle to resist tempting foods that we know we shouldn't eat.
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A similar process is at work in our response to information. Our formative environment as a species was information-poor as well as calorie-poor. The features of that environment ?specifically the members of our immediate community and
our interactions with them ?typically changed rarely and gradually. New information in the form of new community members or new ways of interacting were unusual and notable events that typically signified something of great importance.
Just as our brains developed a response mechanism that prized sugary treats, we evolved to pay close attention to new information about the people around us and our interactions with them. But just as the development of industrial
agriculture and mass commerce has profoundly altered our caloric environment, global connectivity has profoundly altered our information environment. We are now ceaselessly bombarded with new information about the people around us ?
and the definition of "people around us" has fundamentally changed, putting us in touch with more people in an hour than early humans met in their entire lives. All of this poses a critical challenge to our brains ?the adult version of the
marshmallow test.
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Not only are we constantly interrupted by alerts, beeps, and buzzes that tell us some new information has arrived, we constantly interrupt ourselves to seek out new information. We pull out our phones while we're in the middle of a
conversation with someone. We check our email while we're engaged in a complex task that requires our full concentration. We scan our feeds even though we just checked them a minute ago. There's increasing evidence suggesting that
these disruptions make it difficult to do our best work, diminish our productivity, and contribute to a feeling of overwhelm.
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The agricultural and commercial revolutions were clearly net gains for humanity, making it possible for more people to live better lives than ever before. It would be both wrongheaded and fruitless to suggest that we should turn back the clock
on these advances. Similarly, the information revolution is helping us to make great strides as a species. But just as we need to be more thoughtful about our caloric consumption, delaying gratification of our impulsive urges in order to eat
more nutritiously, we need to be more thoughtful about our information consumption, resisting the allure of the mental equivalent of "junk food" in order to allocate our time and attention most effectively. (This article has been picked from
hbr.org and has been edited for use.)
According to the author, humans give into the temptation of eating unhealthy food that they should ideally not be eating
A. due to the discrepancy between the evolution of the brain and the ease of food available todayPassage
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[1] Positive thinking sounds useful on the surface. [2] But "positive thinking" is also a soft and fluffy term that is easy to dismiss. [3] But those views may be changing. [4] Research is beginning to reveal that positive thinking is about much more than just being happy or displaying an upbeat attitude. [5] Positive thoughts can actually create real value in your life and help you build skills that last much longer than a smile. [6] The impact of positive thinking on your work, your health, and your life is being studied by researchers, one of whom is Barbara Fredrickson. [7] Fredrickson is a positive psychology researcher at the University of North Carolina, and she published a landmark paper that provides surprising insights about positive thinking and its impact on your skills. [8] Her work is among the most referenced and cited in her field, and it is surprisingly useful in everyday life.
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[9] What do negative thoughts do to your brain? [10] Let's say that you're walking through the forest and suddenly a tiger steps onto the path ahead of you. [11] When this happens, your brain registers a negative emotion ?in this case, fear.
[12] Researchers have long known that negative emotions program your brain to do a specific action. [13] When that tiger crosses your path, for example, you run. [14] The rest of the world doesn't matter. [15] You are focused entirely on the tiger, the fear it creates, and how you can get away from it. [16] In other words, negative emotions narrow your mind and focus your thoughts. [17] At that same moment, you might have the option to climb a tree, pick up a leaf, or grab a stick ?but your brain ignores all of those options because they seem irrelevant when a tiger is standing in front of you.
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[18] This is a useful instinct if you're trying to save life and limb, but in our modern society, we don't have to worry about stumbling across tigers in the wilderness. [19] The problem is that your brain is still programmed to respond to negative emotions in the same way ?by shutting off the outside world and limiting the options, you see around you. [20] For example, when you're in a fight with someone, your anger and emotion might consume you to the point where you can't think about anything else. [21] Or, when you are stressed out about everything you have to get done today, you may find it hard to actually start anything because you're paralyzed by how long your to-do list has become. [22] In each case, your brain closes off from the outside world and focuses on the negative emotions of fear, anger, and stress ?just like it did with the tiger. [23] Negative emotions prevent your brain from seeing the other options and choices that surround you. [24] It's your survival instinct.
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[25] Now, let's compare this to what positive emotions do to your brain. [26] This is where Barbara Fredrickson returns to the story. [27] Fredrickson tested the impact of positive emotions on the brain by setting up a little experiment. [28] During this experiment, she divided her research subjects into five groups and showed each group different film clips. [29] The first two groups were shown clips that created positive emotions. [30] Group 1 saw images that created feelings of joy. [31] Group 2 saw images that created feelings of contentment. [32] Group 3 was the control group. [33] They saw images that were neutral and produced no significant emotion. [34] The last two groups were shown clips that created negative emotions. [35] Group 4 saw images that created feelings of fear. [36] Group 5 saw images that created feelings of anger. [37] Afterward, each participant was asked to imagine themselves in a situation where similar feelings would arise and to write down what they would do. [38] Each participant was handed a piece of paper with 20 blank lines that started with the phrase, "I would like to..." Participants who saw images of fear and anger wrote down the fewest responses. [39] Meanwhile, the participants who saw images of joy and contentment, wrote down a significantly higher number of actions that they would take, even when compared to the neutral group.
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[40] In other words, when you are experiencing positive emotions like joy, contentment, and love, you will see more possibilities in your life. [41] These findings were among the first that suggested positive emotions broaden your sense of possibility and open your mind up to more options. [42] But that was just the beginning. [43] The benefits of positive emotions don't stop after a few minutes of good feelings subside. [44] In fact, the biggest benefit that positive emotions provide is an enhanced ability to build skills and develop resources for use later in life. [45] Let's consider a real-world example. [46] A child who runs around outside, swinging on branches and playing with friends, develops the ability to move athletically (physical skills), the ability to play with others and communicate with a team (social skills), and the ability to explore and examine the world around them (creative skills). [47] In this way, the positive emotions of play and joy prompt the child to build skills that are useful and valuable in everyday life. [48] These skills last much longer than the emotions that initiated them. [49] Years later, that foundation of athletic movement might develop into a scholarship as a college athlete or the communication skills may blossom into a job offer as a business manager. [50] The happiness that promoted the exploration and creation of new skills has long since ended, but the skills themselves live on. [51] Fredrickson refers to this as the "broaden and build" theory because positive emotions broaden your sense of possibilities and open your mind, which in turn allows you to build new skills and resources that can provide value in other areas of your life.
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[52] All of this research begs the most important question of all: If positive thinking is so useful for developing valuable skills and appreciating the big picture of life, how do you actually get yourself to be positive? [53] Recent research by Fredrickson and her colleagues has revealed that people who meditate daily display more positive emotions that those who do not. [54] As expected, people who meditated also built valuable long-term skills. [55] For example, three months after the experiment was over, the people who meditated daily continued to display increased mindfulness, purpose in life, social support, and decreased illness symptoms.
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[56] Secondly, a study published in the Journal of Research in Personality examined a group of 90 undergraduate students who were split into two groups. [57] The first group wrote about an intensely positive experience each day for three consecutive days. [58] The second group wrote about a control topic. [59] Three months later, the students who wrote about positive experiences had better mood levels, fewer visits to the health center, and experienced fewer illnesses.
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[60] Positive thinking isn't just a soft and fluffy feel-good term. [61] Yes, it's great to simply "be happy," but those moments of happiness are also critical for opening your mind to explore and build the skills that become so valuable in other areas of your life. [62] Periods of positive emotion and unhindered exploration are when you see the possibilities for how your past experiences fit into your future life, when you begin to develop skills that blossom into useful talents later on, and when you spark the urge for further exploration and adventure.
According to the passage, which one of the following is a tool that the author recommends to build positive thinking?
A. Pursuing one's interestsWhile historians once propagated the myth that Africans who were brought to the New World as slaves contributed little of value but their labor, a recent study by Amelia Wallace Vernon helps to dispel this notion by showing that Africans introduced rice and the methods of cultivating it into what is now the United States in the early eighteenth century. She uncovered, for example, an 1876 document that details that in 1718 starving French settlers instructed the captain of a slave ship bound for Africa to trade for 400 Africans including some "who know how to cultivate rice." This discovery is especially compelling because the introduction of rice into what is now the United States had previously been attributed to French Acadians, who did not arrive until the 1760s.
Vernon interviewed elderly African Americans who helped her discover the locations where until about 1920 their forebears had cultivated rice. At the heart of Vernon's research is the question of why, in an economy dedicated to maximizing cotton production, African Americans grew rice. She proposes two intriguing answers, depending on whether the time is before or after the end of slavery. During the period of slavery, plantation owners also ate rice and therefore tolerated or demanded its "after-hours" cultivation on patches of land not suited to cotton. In addition, growing the rice gave the slaves some relief from a system of regimented labor under a field supervisor, in that they were left alone to work independently.
After the abolition of slavery, however, rice cultivation is more difficult to explain: African Americans had acquired a preference for eating corn, there was no market for the small amounts of rice they produced, and under the tenant system ?in which farmers surrendered a portion of their crops to the owners of the land they farmed ?owners wanted only cotton as payment. The labor required to transform unused land to productive ground would thus seem completely out of proportion to the reward ?except that, according to Vernon, the transforming of the land itself was the point.
Vernon suggests that these African Americans did not transform the land as a means to an end, but rather as an end in itself. In other words, they did not transform the land in order to grow rice ?for the resulting rice was scarcely worth the effort required to clear the land ?but instead transformed the land because they viewed land as an extension of self and home and so wished to nurture it and make it their own. In addition to this cultural explanation, Vernon speculates that rice cultivation might also have been a political act, a next step after the emancipation of the slaves: the symbolic claiming of plantation land that the U.S. government had promised but failed to parcel off and deed to newly freed African Americans.
As described in the last paragraph of the passage, rice cultivation after slavery is most analogous to which one of the following?
A. A group of neighbors plants flower gardens on common land adjoining their properties in order to beautify their neighborhood and to create more of a natural boundary between properties.Editorialist: Some people argue that ramps and other accommodations for people using wheelchairs are unnecessary in certain business areas because those areas are not frequented by wheelchair users. What happens, however, is that once ramps and other accommodations are installed in these business areas, people who use wheelchairs come there to shop and work.
Which one of the following is most strongly supported by the editorialist's statements?
A. Owners of business areas not frequented by wheelchair users generally are reluctant to make modifications.On a Tuesday, an accountant has exactly seven bills -- numbered 1 through 7 -- to pay by Thursday of the same week. The accountant will pay each bill only once according to the following rules:
Either three or four of the seven bills must be paid on Wednesday, the rest on Thursday.
Bill 1 cannot be paid on the same day as bill 5.
Bill 2 must be paid on Thursday.
Bill 4 must be paid on the same day as bill 7.
If bill 6 is paid on Wednesday, bill 7 must be paid on Thursday.
If bill 6 is paid on Wednesday, which one of the following bills must also be paid on Wednesday?
A. 1Galanin is a protein found in the brain. In an experiment, rats that consistently chose to eat fatty foods when offered a choice between lean and fatty foods were found to have significantly higher concentrations of galanin in their brains than did rats that consistently chose lean over fatty foods. These facts strongly support the conclusion that galanin causes rats to crave fatty foods.
Which one of the following, if true, most supports the argument?
A. The craving for fatty foods does not invariably result in a rat's choosing those foods over lean foods.Of the eight students--George, Helen, Irving, Kyle, Lenore, Nina, Olivia, and Robert--in a seminar, exactly six will give individual oral reports during three consecutive days-- Monday, Tuesday, and Wednesday. Exactly two reports will be given
each day--one in the morning and one in the afternoon--according to the following conditions:
Tuesday is the only day on which George can give a report.
Neither Olivia nor Robert can give an afternoon report. If Nina gives a report, then on the next day Helen and Irving must both give reports, unless Nina's report is given on Wednesday.
If Helen, Kyle, and Lenore, not necessarily in that order, give the three morning reports, which one of the following must be true?
A. Helen gives a report on Monday.On a Tuesday, an accountant has exactly seven bills -- numbered 1 through 7 -- to pay by Thursday of the same week. The accountant will pay each bill only once according to the following rules:
Either three or four of the seven bills must be paid on Wednesday, the rest on Thursday.
Bill 1 cannot be paid on the same day as bill 5.
Bill 2 must be paid on Thursday.
Bill 4 must be paid on the same day as bill 7.
If bill 6 is paid on Wednesday, bill 7 must be paid on Thursday.
Which one of the following is a complete and accurate list of the bills any one of which could be among the bills paid on Wednesday?
A. 3, 5, and 6Unlike newspapers in the old days, today's newspapers and televised news programs are full of stories about murders and assaults in our city. One can only conclude from this change that violent crime is now out of control, and, to be safe from personal attack, one should not leave one's home except for absolute necessities.
Which one of the following, if true, would cast the most serious doubt on the conclusion?
A. Newspapers and televised news programs have more comprehensive coverage of violent crime than newspapers did in the old days.Nowadays, the certification exams become more and more important and required by more and more enterprises when applying for a job. But how to prepare for the exam effectively? How to prepare for the exam in a short time with less efforts? How to get a ideal result and how to find the most reliable resources? Here on Vcedump.com, you will find all the answers. Vcedump.com provide not only LSAC exam questions, answers and explanations but also complete assistance on your exam preparation and certification application. If you are confused on your LSAT-TEST exam preparations and LSAC certification application, do not hesitate to visit our Vcedump.com to find your solutions here.