PSAT Critical Reading : Understanding the Content of Humanities Passages

Study concepts, example questions & explanations for PSAT Critical Reading

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Example Questions

Example Question #9 :Summarizing And Describing Humanities Passage Content

Adapted from the Advertisement toLyrical Ballads威廉·华兹华斯(1798)

这是光荣的诗歌的特征its materials are to be found in every subject which can interest the human mind. The evidence of this fact is to be sought, not in the writings of Critics, but in those of Poets themselves.

The majority of the following poems are to be considered as experiments. They were written chiefly with a view to ascertain how far the language of conversation in the middle and lower classes of society is adapted to the purposes of poetic pleasure. Readers accustomed to the gaudiness and inane phraseology of many modern writers, if they persist in reading this book to its conclusion, will perhaps frequently have to struggle with feelings of strangeness and awkwardness: they will look round for poetry, and will be induced to enquire by what species of courtesy these attempts can be permitted to assume that title. It is desirable that such readers, for their own sakes, should not suffer the solitary word Poetry, a word of very disputed meaning, to stand in the way of their gratification; but that, while they are perusing this book, they should ask themselves if it contains a natural delineation of human passions, human characters, and human incidents; and if the answer be favorable to the author's wishes, that they should consent to be pleased in spite of that most dreadful enemy to our pleasures, our own pre-established codes of decision.

Readers of superior judgement may disapprove of the style in which many of these pieces are executed it must be expected that many lines and phrases will not exactly suit their taste. It will perhaps appear to them, that wishing to avoid the prevalent fault of the day, the author has sometimes descended too low, and that many of his expressions are too familiar, and not of sufficient dignity. It is apprehended, that the more conversant the reader is with our elder writers, and with those in modern times who have been the most successful in painting manners and passions, the fewer complaints of this kind will he have to make.

一个精确的品味诗歌,和所有其他的arts, Sir Joshua Reynolds has observed, is an acquired talent, which can only be produced by severe thought, and a long continued intercourse with the best models of composition. This is mentioned not with so ridiculous a purpose as to prevent the most inexperienced reader from judging for himself; but merely to temper the rashness of decision, and to suggest that if poetry be a subject on which much time has not been bestowed, the judgement may be erroneous, and that in many cases it necessarily will be so.

Which of the following sentences best summarizes the first paragraph?

Possible Answers:

Inspiration for poetry is found in anything the poet cares to think about and their poetry attests to this being a fact.

The essence of poetry is a secret only poets know, and to ask a critic where the inspiration for a poem comes from is a foolish thing to do.

Those who criticize do not understand the nature of poetry or the specificity with which inspiration is chosen.

Poetry is derived from all things and the work of critics proves this.

The longer the poem, the more materials a poet can use, although only critics can certify this.

Correct answer:

Inspiration for poetry is found in anything the poet cares to think about and their poetry attests to this being a fact.

Explanation:

The author is suggesting in the first paragraph that inspiration or “the materials” with which poetry is made are found in everything and that it is better to seek validation of this as a fact within the work of poets instead of in the work of critics. Therefore, only poetry can attest that it can be inspired by anything. The work of critics is misleading, as it could suggest that poetry should only be about certain subjects.

Example Question #1 :Other Passage Questions

Adapted fromWaldenby Henry Thoreau (1854)

Still we live meanly, like ants; it is error upon error, and clout upon clout, and our best virtue has for its occasion a superfluous and evitable wretchedness. Our life is frittered away by detail. An honest man has hardly need to count more than his ten fingers, or in extreme cases he may add his ten toes, and lump the rest. Simplicity, simplicity, simplicity! I say, let your affairs be as two or three, and not a hundred or a thousand; instead of a million count half a dozen, and keep your accounts on your thumbnail. In the midst of this chopping sea of civilized life, such are the clouds and storms and quicksands and thousand-and-one items to be allowed for, that a man has to live, if he would not founder and go to the bottom and not make his port at all, by dead reckoning, and he must be a great calculator indeed who succeeds. Simplify, simplify. Instead of three meals a day, if it be necessary eat but one; instead of a hundred dishes, five; and reduce other things in proportion.

Our life is like a German Confederacy, made up of petty states, with its boundary forever fluctuating, so that even a German cannot tell you how it is bounded at any moment. The nation itself, with all its so-called internal improvements, which, by the way are all external and superficial, is just such an unwieldy and overgrown establishment, cluttered with furniture and tripped up by its own traps, ruined by luxury and heedless expense, by want of calculation and a worthy aim, as the million households in the land; and the only cure for it, as for them, is in a rigid economy, a stern and more than Spartan simplicity of life and elevation of purpose. It lives too fast. Men think that it is essential that the Nation have commerce, and export ice, and talk through a telegraph, and ride thirty miles an hour, without a doubt, whether they do or not, but whether we should live like baboons or like men is a little uncertain. If we do not get out sleepers, and forge rails, and devote days and nights to the work, but go to tinkering upon our lives to improve them, who will build railroads? And if railroads are not built, how shall we get to heaven in season? But if we stay at home and mind our business, who will want railroads? We do not ride on the railroad; it rides upon us. Did you ever think what those sleepers are that underlie the railroad? Each one is a man, an Irishman, or a Yankee man. The rails are laid on them, and they are covered with sand, and the cars run smoothly over them. They are sound sleepers, I assure you.

In this passage, the author is most concerned with which theme?

Possible Answers:

Communication

Excess

Boundary disputes

The development of infrastructure

Immorality

Correct answer:

Excess

Explanation:

Thoreau makes no mention of boundary disputes within the nation, and while he calls the economy “rigid,” it is not his primary worry, but instead a recommendation for people to take stock of their households and pursuits more carefully. Likewise, he discusses the development of infrastructure when he discusses railroads at the end of the second paragraph, but this is not his primary focus. Instead, Thoreau is concerned with all the aspects of contemporary American culture that are opposed to a “Spartan simplicity of life,” which can be considered together as “excess.”

Example Question #532 :Psat Critical Reading

Adapted from “Genius and Individuality” by John Stuart Mill (1859)

它不会被任何人否认创意is a valuable element in human affairs. There is always need of persons not only to discover new truths, and point out when what were once truths are true no longer, but also to commence new practices, and set the example of more enlightened conduct, and better taste and sense in human life. This cannot well be said by anybody who does not believe that the world has already attained perfection in all its ways and practices. It is true that this benefit is not capable of being rendered by everybody alike; there are but few persons, in comparison with the whole of mankind, whose experiments, if adopted by others, would be likely to be any improvement on established practice. But these few are the salt of the earth; without them, human life would become a stagnant pool. Not only is it they who introduce good things which did not before exist, it is they who keep the life in those which already existed. If there were nothing new to be done, would human intellect cease to be necessary? Would it cause people to forget how best to go about their business, and instead to do things like cattle, not like human beings? There is a tendency in the best beliefs and practices to degenerate into the mechanical. Persons of genius are a small minority, but in order to have them, it is necessary to preserve the soil in which they grow. Genius can only breathe freely in anatmosphereof freedom.

I insist thus emphatically on the importance of genius, and the necessity of allowing it to unfold itself freely both in thought and in practice, being well aware that no one will deny the position in theory, but knowing also that almost everyone, in reality, is totally indifferent to it. People think genius a fine thing if it enables a man to write an exciting poem, or paint a picture. But in its true sense, that of originality in thought and action, though no one says that it is not a thing to be admired, nearly all, at heart, think they can do very well without it. Unhappily this is too natural to be wondered at. Originality is the one thing which unoriginal minds cannot feel the use of. They cannot see what it is to do for them: how should they? If they could see what it would do for them, it would not be originality. The first service which originality has to render them is the opening of their eyes; once this is done, they would have a chance of being themselves original.

In this passage, the author emphasizes which aspect of genius?

Possible Answers:

Its weakness

Its divisiveness

Its rarity

Its tolerance

Its infallibility

Correct answer:

Its rarity

Explanation:

Throughout this passage, the author makes numerous references to the rarity of genius and the importance of protecting it. For example, the author says that “persons of genius are a small minority.” The infallibility, divisiveness, weakness or tolerant capabilities of genius are never explicitly stated.

Example Question #533 :Psat Critical Reading

Adapted from "The Philosophy of Composition" by Edgar Allan Poe (1846)

Nothing is more clear than that every plot, worth the name, must be elaborated to itsdénouementbefore any thing be attempted with the pen. It is only with thedénouementconstantly in view that we can give a plot its indispensable air of consequence, or causation, by making the incidents, and especially the tone at all points, tend to the development of the intention.

There is a radical error, I think, in the usual mode of constructing a story. Either history affords a thesis—or one is suggested by an incident of the day—or, at best, the author sets himself to work in the combination of striking events to form merely the basis of his narrative—designing, generally, to fill in with description, dialogue, or autorial comment, whatever crevices of fact, or action, may, from page to page, render themselves apparent.

I prefer commencing with the consideration of aneffect.Keeping originalityalwaysin view—for he is false to himself who ventures to dispense with so obvious and so easily attainable a source of interest—I say to myself, in the first place, “Of the innumerable effects, or impressions, of which the heart, the intellect, or (more generally) the soul is susceptible, what one shall I, on the present occasion, select?” Having chosen a novel, first, and secondly a vivid effect, I consider whether it can best be wrought by incident or tone—whether by ordinary incidents and peculiar tone, or the converse, or by peculiarity both of incident and tone—afterward looking about me (or rather within) for such combinations of event, or tone, as shall best aid me in the construction of the effect.

In the first line, Poe is basically saying__________.

Possible Answers:

the plot of a book should be planned out to the end before the writer begins writing it

a book's ending must be figured out before the book's beginning

attempting to write anything leads a writer to completely plan out a story before beginning it in earnest

no plot worth the name is planned out by the writer

Correct answer:

the plot of a book should be planned out to the end before the writer begins writing it

Explanation:

In the passage's first line, Poe states that a plot must be completely laid out until the very end of a story before the writer begins writing that story.

Example Question #531 :Psat Critical Reading

Passage adapted from J.R Hamilton's "When You Know What is Best, Ask For It By Name"San Francisco Call, April 16, 1912.

If a man has anything he is proud of, he gives it a name whether it be a baby or a pair of boots. And the more he is proud of it, the more he talks about it.

Nameless things are seldom good and never reliable. If you want to cut down your cost of living the very best way to do it is to learn to ask only for standard articles.

When you know the name of a good maker of shirts or shoes, of furniture or pianos, of hardware or underwear, fix that name definitely in your mind and remember it when you come to buy.

不要铝low strange things to come into your home any more than you would allow strange people.

The brand and the trademark and the copyright are the letters of introduction from the maker to you. In this way he vouches for their respectability and guarantees their good behavior in your home.

There is a name for every good product that is made. And most of these names are known by every man and woman in America. Manufacturers have spent hundreds of millions of dollars to standardize these names in your mind. From the lining of a dress to laundry soap; from a cleanser to a baking powder; from a suit of clothes to a kit of tools; you could call every standard article on the market by name if you would only remember to do so when you come to buy.

It is through your carelessness that lies and adulterations creep in. The standard is set by good men, but the standard is only maintained by you.

It is time for you to forget the generic name of every article, and remember only the standard name of its quality.

In the advertising news of this paper today you will find many of these standard names and brands of quality. This article is written for the sole purpose of reminding you to use those names. It is only fair that you should do as much for these good manufacturers as they are doing for you. It is only right that you should help in this great standardization of good products that is going on throughout America.

Begin now to ask by name for everything you buy. And you will find your satisfaction growing greater day by day and your optimism extending even down to your pocket book.

Which of the following best describes the passage as a whole?

Possible Answers:

A discussion of the importance of names.

A description of the difficulties involved in receiving a trademark or copyright.

A list of arguments in favor of high tariffs.

A discussion supporting the purchase of only name brand consumer items.

Correct answer:

A discussion supporting the purchase of only name brand consumer items.

Explanation:

The author believes that items carrying brand names are far superior to generic items. In the second paragraph he states, "Nameless things are seldom good and never reliable." In the fourth paragraph, he also claims that allowing a "strange" item into your home is the same as allowing a stranger into your home. He believes that items carrying name brands are being guaranteed by the good name of the company that produced it (see Paragraph 5).

Example Question #861 :Sat Critical Reading

Adapted fromAn Enquiry Concerning Human Understandingby David Hume (1748)

Everyone will readily allow that there is a considerable difference between the perceptions of the mind, when a man feels the pain of excessive heat, or the pleasure of moderate warmth, and when he afterwards recalls to his memory this sensation, or anticipates it by his imagination. These faculties may mimic or copy the perceptions of the senses, but they never can entirely reach the force and vivacity of the original sentiment. The utmost we say of them, even when they operate with greatest vigor, is, that they represent their object in so lively a manner that we couldalmostsay we feel or see it. But, except the mind be disordered by disease or madness, they never can arrive at such a pitch of vivacity as to render these perceptions altogether undistinguishable. All the colors of poetry, however splendid, can never paint natural objects in such a manner as to make the description be taken for a real landscape. The most lively thought is still inferior to the dullest sensation.

We may observe a like distinction to run through all the other perceptions of the mind. A man in a fit of anger is actuated in a very different manner from one who only thinks of that emotion. If you tell me that any person is in love I easily understand your meaning, and form a just conception of his situation, but never can mistake that conception for the real disorders and agitations of the passion. When we reflect on our past sentiments and affections, our thought is a faithful mirror and copies its objects truly, but the colors which it employs are faint and dull in comparison of those in which our original perceptions were clothed. It requires no nice discernment or metaphysical head to mark the distinction between them.

Here, therefore, we may divide all the perceptions of the mind into two classes or species, which are distinguished by their different degrees of force and vivacity. The less forcible and lively are commonly denominated "thoughts" or "ideas." The other species want a name in our language, and in most others; I suppose because it was not requisite for any but philosophical purposes to rank them under a general term or appellation. Let us, therefore, use a little freedom, and call them "impressions," employing that word in a sense somewhat different from the usual. By the term "impression," then, I mean all our more lively perceptions, when we hear, or see, or feel, or love, or hate, or desire, or will. And impressions are distinguished from ideas, which are the less lively perceptions, of which we are conscious when we reflect on any of those sensations or movements above mentioned.

The second paragraph establishes all of the following EXCEPT__________.

Possible Answers:

the concept of love is dissimilar to the effects of love

you don't need to be overly clever to see the difference between perception and reflection

an angry man is not the same as a man considering anger

the difference between reality and memory is unique from all other mental processes

our reflections on the past are truthful

Correct answer:

the difference between reality and memory is unique from all other mental processes

Explanation:

At the start of the paragraph, the author says that “We may observe a like distinction to run through all the other perceptions of the mind.” He is suggesting that in all aspects of mental perception, there is an element of reality being not like the way our minds picture it. Therefore, using the word “unique” is incorrect. The sentence would be established by the paragraph if the words “generic for” were substituted in place of “unique from.”

Example Question #536 :Psat Critical Reading

Passage adapted from “Utopia” by Thomas More (1516) inIdeal Commonwealths:Comprising More's Utopia, Bacon's New Atlantis, Campanella's City of the Sun, and Harrington's Oceans(1901)

因此我向你描述,尤其是我could, the constitution of that commonwealth, which I do not only think the best in the world, but indeed the only commonwealth that truly deserves that name. In all other places it is visible that, while people talk of a commonwealth, every man only seeks his own wealth; but there, where no man has any property, all men zealously pursue the good of the public, and, indeed, it is no wonder to see men act so differently, for in other commonwealths every man knows that unless he provides for himself, how flourishing soever the commonwealth may be, he must die of hunger, so that he sees the necessity of preferring his own concerns to the public; but in Utopia, where every man has a right to everything, they all know that if care is taken to keep the public stores full no private man can want anything, for among them there is no unequal distribution, so that no man is poor, none in necessity, and though no man has anything, yet they are all rich; for what can make a man so rich as to lead a serene and cheerful life, free from anxieties, neither apprehending want himself, nor vexed with the endless complaints of his wife? He is not afraid of the misery of his children, nor is he contriving how to raise a portion for his daughters, but is secure in this, that both he and his wife, his children and grandchildren, to as many generations as he can fancy, will all live both plentifully and happily, since, among them, there is no less care taken of those who were once engaged in labor, but grow afterwards unable to follow it, than there is, elsewhere, of these that continue still employed. I would gladly hear any man compare the justice that is among them with that of all other nations; among whom may I perish if I see anything that looks either like justice or equity; for what justice is there in this: that a nobleman, a goldsmith, a banker, or any other man, who either does nothing at all, or, at best, is employed in things that are of no use to the public, should live in great luxury and splendor upon what is so ill acquired, and a mean man, a carter, a smith, or a plowman, who works harder even than the beasts themselves, and is employed in labors so necessary, that no commonwealth could hold out a year without them, can only earn so poor a livelihood and must lead so miserable a life, that the condition of the beasts is much better than theirs? For as the beasts do not work so constantly, so they feed almost as well, and with more pleasure, and have no anxiety about what is to come, whilst these men are depressed by a barren and fruitless employment, and tormented with the apprehensions of want in their old age; since that which they get by their daily labour does but maintain them at present, and is consumed as fast as it comes in, there is no overplus left to lay up for old age.

In which of the following quotations does the narrator give a reason why people consider their own wants before the public good in countries other than Utopia?

Possible Answers:

". . . no man is poor, none in necessity, and though no man has anything, yet they are all rich; for what can make a man so rich as to lead a serene and cheerful life, free from anxieties, neither apprehending want himself, nor vexed with the endless complaints of his wife?"

". . . among them, there is no less care taken of those who were once engaged in labor, but grow afterwards unable to follow it, than there is, elsewhere, of these that continue still employed."

“我很高兴地听到有人比较正义that is among them with that of all other nations; among whom may I perish if I see anything that looks either like justice or equity . . ."

" . . . it is no wonder to see men act so differently, for in other commonwealths every man knows that unless he provides for himself, how flourishing soever the commonwealth may be, he must die of hunger, so that he sees the necessity of preferring his own concerns to the public . . ."

"For as the beasts do not work so constantly, so they feed almost as well, and with more pleasure, and have no anxiety about what is to come, whilst these men are depressed by a barren and fruitless employment, and tormented with the apprehensions of want in their old age . . ."

Correct answer:

" . . . it is no wonder to see men act so differently, for in other commonwealths every man knows that unless he provides for himself, how flourishing soever the commonwealth may be, he must die of hunger, so that he sees the necessity of preferring his own concerns to the public . . ."

Explanation:

The correct answer choice includes the detail that "every man knows that unless he provides for himself, how flourishing soever the commonwealth may be, he must die of hunger," and it uses this as a supporting detail for the reason why a man who lives in a country other than Utopia "sees the necessity of preferring his own concerns to the public," or in other words, considers his own wants before the public good. None of the other answer choices provide such a detail.

Example Question #1 :画Evidence From Humanities Passages

Passage adapted from “Utopia” by Thomas More (1516) inIdeal Commonwealths:Comprising More's Utopia, Bacon's New Atlantis, Campanella's City of the Sun, and Harrington's Oceans(1901)

因此我向你描述,尤其是我could, the constitution of that commonwealth, which I do not only think the best in the world, but indeed the only commonwealth that truly deserves that name. In all other places it is visible that, while people talk of a commonwealth, every man only seeks his own wealth; but there, where no man has any property, all men zealously pursue the good of the public, and, indeed, it is no wonder to see men act so differently, for in other commonwealths every man knows that unless he provides for himself, how flourishing soever the commonwealth may be, he must die of hunger, so that he sees the necessity of preferring his own concerns to the public; but in Utopia, where every man has a right to everything, they all know that if care is taken to keep the public stores full no private man can want anything, for among them there is no unequal distribution, so that no man is poor, none in necessity, and though no man has anything, yet they are all rich; for what can make a man so rich as to lead a serene and cheerful life, free from anxieties, neither apprehending want himself, nor vexed with the endless complaints of his wife? He is not afraid of the misery of his children, nor is he contriving how to raise a portion for his daughters, but is secure in this, that both he and his wife, his children and grandchildren, to as many generations as he can fancy, will all live both plentifully and happily, since, among them, there is no less care taken of those who were once engaged in labor, but grow afterwards unable to follow it, than there is, elsewhere, of these that continue still employed. I would gladly hear any man compare the justice that is among them with that of all other nations; among whom may I perish if I see anything that looks either like justice or equity; for what justice is there in this: that a nobleman, a goldsmith, a banker, or any other man, who either does nothing at all, or, at best, is employed in things that are of no use to the public, should live in great luxury and splendor upon what is so ill acquired, and a mean man, a carter, a smith, or a plowman, who works harder even than the beasts themselves, and is employed in labors so necessary, that no commonwealth could hold out a year without them, can only earn so poor a livelihood and must lead so miserable a life, that the condition of the beasts is much better than theirs? For as the beasts do not work so constantly, so they feed almost as well, and with more pleasure, and have no anxiety about what is to come, whilst these men are depressed by a barren and fruitless employment, and tormented with the apprehensions of want in their old age; since that which they get by their daily labour does but maintain them at present, and is consumed as fast as it comes in, there is no overplus left to lay up for old age.

The passage tells us that the inhabitants of Utopia all work for the public good, but which of the following describes what they do in their work in more detail?

Possible Answers:

Crafting works of art

Keeping the public stores full

Ensuring the health of citizens

Holding elections

Making sure that no one secretly owns any private property

Correct answer:

Keeping the public stores full

Explanation:

Towards the beginning of the passage, the narrator tells us, "in Utopia, where every man has a right to everything, they all know that if care is taken to keep the public stores full no private man can want anything." From this, we can infer that "keeping the public stores full" is something accomplished by the Utopians in their work, so it is the correct answer. None of the other answer choices are mentioned anywhere in the passage.

Example Question #538 :Psat Critical Reading

Adapted from "Nature" by Ralph Waldo Emerson (1836)

走进孤独,一个人需要退休from his chamber as from society. I am not solitary whilst I read and write, though nobody is with me. But if a man would be alone, let him look at the stars. The rays that come from those heavenly worlds will separate between him and what he touches. One might think the atmosphere was made transparent with this design, to give man, in the heavenly bodies, the perpetual presence of the sublime. Seen in the streets of cities, how great they are! If the stars should appear one night in a thousand years, how would men believe and adore, and preserve for many generations the remembrance of the city of God which had been shown! But every night come out these envoys of beauty, and light the universe with their admonishing smile.

星辰唤醒某种崇敬,因为你gh always present, they are inaccessible; but all natural objects make a kindred impression, when the mind is open to their influence. Nature never wears a mean appearance. Neither does the wisest man extort her secret, and lose his curiosity by finding out all her perfection. Nature never became a toy to a wise spirit. The flowers, the animals, the mountains, reflected the wisdom of his best hour, as much as they had delighted the simplicity of his childhood.

当我们用这种方式说话自然,我们有一个distinct but most poetical sense in the mind. We mean the integrity of impression made by manifold natural objects. It is this which distinguishes the stick of timber of the wood-cutter, from the tree of the poet. The charming landscape which I saw this morning, is indubitably made up of some twenty or thirty farms. Miller owns this field, Locke that, and Manning the woodland beyond. But none of them owns the landscape. There is a property in the horizon which no man has but he whose eye can integrate all the parts, that is, the poet. This is the best part of these men's farms, yet to this their warranty-deeds give no title.

说实话,很少能够看见大自然的成年人。Most persons do not see the sun. At least they have a very superficial seeing. The sun illuminates only the eye of the man, but shines into the eye and the heart of the child. The lover of nature is he whose inward and outward senses are still truly adjusted to each other; who has retained the spirit of infancy even into the era of manhood. His intercourse with heaven and earth becomes part of his daily food. In the presence of nature, a wild delight runs through the man, in spite of real sorrows. Nature says,—he is my creature, and maugre all his impertinent grief’s, he shall be glad with me. Not the sun or the summer alone, but every hour and season yields its tribute of delight; for every hour and change corresponds to and authorizes a different state of the mind, from breathless noon to grimmest midnight. Nature is a setting that fits equally well a comic or a mourning piece. In good health, the air is a cordial of incredible virtue. Crossing a bare common, in snow puddles, at twilight, under a clouded sky, without having in my thoughts any occurrence of special good fortune, I have enjoyed a perfect exhilaration. I am glad to the brink of fear. In the woods too, a man casts off his years, as the snake his slough, and at whatever period of life, is always a child. In the woods, is perpetual youth. Within these plantations of God, a decorum and sanctity reign, a perennial festival is dressed, and the guest sees not how he should tire of them in a thousand years. In the woods, we return to reason and faith. There I feel that nothing can befall me in life,—no disgrace, no calamity, (leaving me my eyes,) which nature cannot repair. Standing on the bare ground,—my head bathed by the blithe air, and uplifted into infinite space,—all mean egotism vanishes. I become a transparent eye-ball; I am nothing; I see all; the currents of the Universal Being circulate through me; I am part or particle of God. The name of the nearest friend sounds then foreign and accidental: to be brothers, to be acquaintances,—master or servant, is then a trifle and a disturbance. I am the lover of uncontained and immortal beauty. In the wilderness, I find something more dear and connate than in streets or villages. In the tranquil landscape, and especially in the distant line of the horizon, man beholds somewhat as beautiful as his own nature.

The passage states that which of the following is true?

Possible Answers:

We must appreciate what we have in case it is taken away from us.

Sun and summer do not produce as much pleasure as hours and seasons.

It is due to men's sadness that they appreciate nature's beauty.

Children are more perceptive to the effects of nature than adults.

Miller, Locke and Manning are to be envied.

Correct answer:

Children are more perceptive to the effects of nature than adults.

Explanation:

The author asserts that most adults have only a “superficial seeing” of nature, and that those who appreciate it most have "retained the spirit of infancy even into the era of manhood.” So, those who are most receptive to nature are children or those with a remaining sense of their infant spirit.

Example Question #75 :Humanities

Adapted from "Nature" by Ralph Waldo Emerson (1836)

走进孤独,一个人需要退休from his chamber as from society. I am not solitary whilst I read and write, though nobody is with me. But if a man would be alone, let him look at the stars. The rays that come from those heavenly worlds will separate between him and what he touches. One might think the atmosphere was made transparent with this design, to give man, in the heavenly bodies, the perpetual presence of the sublime. Seen in the streets of cities, how great they are! If the stars should appear one night in a thousand years, how would men believe and adore, and preserve for many generations the remembrance of the city of God which had been shown! But every night come out these envoys of beauty, and light the universe with their admonishing smile.

星辰唤醒某种崇敬,因为你gh always present, they are inaccessible; but all natural objects make a kindred impression, when the mind is open to their influence. Nature never wears a mean appearance. Neither does the wisest man extort her secret, and lose his curiosity by finding out all her perfection. Nature never became a toy to a wise spirit. The flowers, the animals, the mountains, reflected the wisdom of his best hour, as much as they had delighted the simplicity of his childhood.

当我们用这种方式说话自然,我们有一个distinct but most poetical sense in the mind. We mean the integrity of impression made by manifold natural objects. It is this which distinguishes the stick of timber of the wood-cutter, from the tree of the poet. The charming landscape which I saw this morning, is indubitably made up of some twenty or thirty farms. Miller owns this field, Locke that, and Manning the woodland beyond. But none of them owns the landscape. There is a property in the horizon which no man has but he whose eye can integrate all the parts, that is, the poet. This is the best part of these men's farms, yet to this their warranty-deeds give no title.

说实话,很少能够看见大自然的成年人。Most persons do not see the sun. At least they have a very superficial seeing. The sun illuminates only the eye of the man, but shines into the eye and the heart of the child. The lover of nature is he whose inward and outward senses are still truly adjusted to each other; who has retained the spirit of infancy even into the era of manhood. His intercourse with heaven and earth becomes part of his daily food. In the presence of nature, a wild delight runs through the man, in spite of real sorrows. Nature says,—he is my creature, and maugre all his impertinent grief’s, he shall be glad with me. Not the sun or the summer alone, but every hour and season yields its tribute of delight; for every hour and change corresponds to and authorizes a different state of the mind, from breathless noon to grimmest midnight. Nature is a setting that fits equally well a comic or a mourning piece. In good health, the air is a cordial of incredible virtue. Crossing a bare common, in snow puddles, at twilight, under a clouded sky, without having in my thoughts any occurrence of special good fortune, I have enjoyed a perfect exhilaration. I am glad to the brink of fear. In the woods too, a man casts off his years, as the snake his slough, and at whatever period of life, is always a child. In the woods, is perpetual youth. Within these plantations of God, a decorum and sanctity reign, a perennial festival is dressed, and the guest sees not how he should tire of them in a thousand years. In the woods, we return to reason and faith. There I feel that nothing can befall me in life,—no disgrace, no calamity, (leaving me my eyes,) which nature cannot repair. Standing on the bare ground,—my head bathed by the blithe air, and uplifted into infinite space,—all mean egotism vanishes. I become a transparent eye-ball; I am nothing; I see all; the currents of the Universal Being circulate through me; I am part or particle of God. The name of the nearest friend sounds then foreign and accidental: to be brothers, to be acquaintances,—master or servant, is then a trifle and a disturbance. I am the lover of uncontained and immortal beauty. In the wilderness, I find something more dear and connate than in streets or villages. In the tranquil landscape, and especially in the distant line of the horizon, man beholds somewhat as beautiful as his own nature.

Which of the following statements about God is supported by the passage?

Possible Answers:

The author is displeased with their own revelation that man is both brother and servant to God.

God is only a particle of man and is therefore a part within the author.

God is only a vestigial part of nature just as a field is only a vestigial part or a landscape.

God has created the forests for people to pray in and as such man should not use churches.

The author is attempting to stipulate that God is omnipotent and that nature is therefore akin to God.

Correct answer:

The author is attempting to stipulate that God is omnipotent and that nature is therefore akin to God.

Explanation:

The line “the currents of the Universal Being circulate through me; I am part or particle of God” and the author's constant capitalization of the word “Nature” serve to support the first answer. Nature and God become synonymous at points in the passage. The other statements are either contradictory to lines in the passage or infer more information than is actually given.

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