3/31/24
Research suggests that it is possible to cultivate insight by adjusting external conditions. For example, studies show that open surroundings, including high ceilings and tall windows, can broaden one’s perspective. Low ceilings, narrow corridors, and windowless offices have the opposite effect.
Which of the following would be the LEAST acceptable alternative to the underlined word?
A. enlarge
B. raise
C. expand
D. widen
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3/30/24
Robert Wright, the founder of the website Mindful Resistance, claims that meditation, if widely practiced, can help people overcome aggression and other harmful behaviors. Not only does meditation make us happier, Wright says but it also makes us kinder, less selfish, and more considerate of others.
A. NO CHANGE
B. Wright says; but it
C. Wright says, but
D. Wright says, it
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3/29/24
The Transiting Exoplanet Survey Satellite, or TESS, is the latest effort to try to answer questions that dominate astronomy for the last several decades: Are we alone? Are there other Earths? Evidence of even a single microbe anywhere else in the galaxy would fundamentally change science.
A. NO CHANGE
B. are dominating
C. have dominated
D. dominated
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3/28/24
For a robot to help scientists truly understand marine life, it must engage with underwater environments without disturbing them. An agile robotic fish created by Massachusetts Institute of Technology researchers does just that. Indeed, it has been observed interacting peacefully with aquatic life along coral reefs in the Pacific Ocean at depths of up to 18 meters.
A. NO CHANGE
B. However,
C. On the other hand,
D. Therefore,
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3/27/24
Whereas the tips of most icebergs are covered in densely packed snow or have been weathered by the elements a few rare ones are free of debris and expose glassy, aqua-green ice with water flowing through it.
A. NO CHANGE
B. elements, a few
C. elements; a few
D. elements, and a few
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3/26/24
The seeds of the Theobroma cacao tree have, over hundreds of years, been linked to therapies for more than 100 diseases and conditions. Its status as a cure-all dates back over 2,000 years.
A. NO CHANGE
B. It’s
C. Their
D. They’re
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3/25/24
In July of 1848, a group of men and women gathered in Seneca Falls, New York, for the first women’s rights convention held in the United States. Many important figures of the day attended, and among them were: Elizabeth Cady Stanton, Lucretia Mott, and Frederick Douglass.
A. NO CHANGE
B. were—Elizabeth Cady Stanton, Lucretia Mott
C. were Elizabeth Cady Stanton, Lucretia Mott,
D. were Elizabeth Cady Stanton; Lucretia Mott,
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3/24/24
In 1927, Charles Lindbergh earned instantaneous fame for becoming the first person to fly solo across the Atlantic. In 1925, however, he was an obscure Air Mail pilot, where he was responsible for transporting packages between Chicago and St. Louis.
A. NO CHANGE
B. pilot. Who was responsible
C. pilot, he was responsible
D. pilot responsible
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3/23/24
Many of us listen to music as a way to calm or energize ourselves. Mona Lisa Chanda and Daniel Levitin, professors at McGill University, have had a look at more than 400 scientific papers on the neurochemical effects of music. Their conclusion was that music truly can boost the body’s immune system, reduce anxiety, and regulate people’s moods.
A. NO CHANGE
B. checked out
C. examined
D. overlooked
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3/22/24
Killer whales are known to live in groups that have unique vocal “dialects” in the wild, they may also copy sounds made by other members of their species, although that ability has not yet been seriously studied.
A. NO CHANGE
B. dialects. In
C. dialect, in
D. dialects; and in
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3/21/24
Standard computer processors rely on packets, or bits of information: each of the packets represents a single yes or no answer. Quantum processors, on the other hand, don’t work in the realm of yes or no but rather operating in the almost surreal world of yes and no.
A. NO CHANGE
B. would operate
C. operated
D. operate
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3/20/24
Although robots have been used in factories for decades, getting them to leave the shop-floor has been no easy task. In manufacturing plants, they carry out pre-ordained, repetitive tasks all day and night. But if they step outside, they are unable to deal with the chaos of the real world, where order and routine are gone. Even the simplest tasks are complicated by the sensors and wires that must follow them around.
Given that all of the choices are true, which one best concludes the paragraph and reaffirms the idea that the real world is disorderly?
A. NO CHANGE
B. unpredictability and vagueness of human interaction.
C. difficulties of creating robots of different sizes.
D. limited amount of energy provided by batteries.
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3/19/24
Reading foreign books and watching international television are recommended to be a way for people to improve their knowledge of world affairs, but neither is a substitute for spending time in another country.
A. NO CHANGE
B. to be ways
C. as a way
D. as ways
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3/18/24
Sometimes a symbol can be so familiar that even out of context—different surroundings, different colors and very different materials—it remains immediately recognizable. That’s the case for the five neon-colored tipis that anchor the exhibition “Manifestipi.” Created by ITWE Collective, a trio of artists based in Winnipeg and Montreal, the eight-foot-tall structures made of frosted plexiglass are unmistakeably tipis. Although they look nothing like traditional ones.
A. NO CHANGE
B. Montreal, and the eight-foot tall structures made of frosted plexiglass are unmistakeably tipis, although
C. Montreal the eight-foot tall structures, made of frosted plexiglass are unmistakeably tipis, although
D. Montreal, the eight-foot tall structures made of frosted plexiglass are unmistakeably tipis, although
Click here for the answer.
3/17/24
Many Parisians hated the Eiffel Tower when it was first erected in 1889. Although they may seem incomprehensible now, that sentiment is perhaps more understandable when you consider that the monument was originally painted red.
A. NO CHANGE
B. it
C. one
D. these
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3/16/24
Astronomers conducting a galactic census of planets in the Milky Way now suspect most of the universe’s habitable real estate exists on worlds orbiting red dwarf stars, which are smaller but far more numerous than stars like our Sun.
A. NO CHANGE
B. then stars
C. than that of stars
D. as stars
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3/15/24
Often advertised to promote health and reduce stress, some doctors warn that dietary supplements can have harmful effects, even though they are easy to purchase.
A. NO CHANGE
B. it is easy to purchase dietary supplements, but some doctors warn that they can have harmful effects.
C. dietary supplements are easy to purchase, yet some doctors warn they can have harmful effects.
D. harmful effects can be had by dietary supplements, even though they are easy to purchase, some doctors warn.
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3/14/24
From his desk at the European Space Operations Centre in Darmstadt, Germany, space debris analyst Tim Flohrer keeps track of the 23,000 or so catalogued objects currently orbiting the Earth. These objects range from spacecraft and satellites – some working, most not – to rocket parts that they have discarded.
A. NO CHANGE
B. one has
C. we have
D. space agencies have
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3/13/24
Whatever its origins, brunch seems to have caught on in the United States during the 1930s, supposedly because Hollywood stars whom made transcontinental train trips frequently stopped off in Chicago to enjoy a late morning meal.
A. NO CHANGE
B. who
C. which
D. DELETE the underlined word.
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3/12/24
The Sahara has not always been a wilderness of sand dunes. German climatologists Rudolph Kuper and Stefan Kröpelin, analyzed the radiocarbon dates of archaeological sites, recently concluded that the region’s prevailing climate pattern changed around 8,500 B.C., with the monsoon rains that covered the tropics moving north.
A. NO CHANGE
B. Kröpelin analyzed
C. Kröpelin, they analyzed
D. Kröpelin, who analyzed
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3/11/24
When researchers first found Angamuco, an ancient city in western Mexico built by rivals of the Aztecs, they tried several methods to explore the site, including an on-the-ground approach. Although this strategy compiled a finding of impressive architectural features, they quickly realized it would take them a decade to survey the entire area. As a result, they turned to a laser mapping technique known as light detection and ranging, or LiDAR scanning.
A. NO CHANGE
B. halted
C. yielded
D. adapted
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3/10/24
Until the early 1970s, most consumers knew very little about the nutritional content of the prepared foods they purchased. Around that time, however, the dramatic growth in processed food lead to a system of both voluntary and mandatory nutrition labeling.
A. NO CHANGE
B. leads
C. led
D. has lead
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3/9/24
Although models of planet-forming disks suggest that most star systems should, like the eight planets of our solar system, have roughly circular orbits, in reality, however, only about one-third of the planets identified in other solar systems orbit in a circular fashion.
A. NO CHANGE
B. but in reality,
C. and in reality,
D. in reality,
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3/8/24
Vocal imitation is a hallmark of human spoken language, yet in other animals it is strikingly rare. Dolphins and beluga whales are among the few mammals that can copy sounds from other species or each other. A small number of animals can also imitate human speech, like parrots are the most famous example, but some members of the crow family are able to do so as well.
A. NO CHANGE
B. speech such as parrots
C. speech: parrots
D. speech, parrots
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3/7/24
Dogs and humans may be the best of friends today, but research on ancient canine remains shows that the relationship didn’t develop overnight. For long periods of time, people lived in tension with their canine companions. Theirs was a relationship of necessity as well as being convenient.
A. NO CHANGE
B. as well as convenience.
C. and it was convenient.
D. and having convenience too.
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3/6/24
Mushrooms are everywhere — on forest floors, in gardens, and in networks connecting below our feet. The largest organism on Earth is actually a honey mushroom, an underground web, that covers more than 3.7 square miles in Oregon’s Blue Mountains.
A. NO CHANGE
B. web that, covers
C. web covers
D. web covering
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3/5/24
While doctors are increasingly dependent on computers, they can also use these devices to help patients in new and important ways. Therefore, electronic medical records can help physicians share information and keep reliable records about which medications a person has been prescribed over a long period of time.
A. NO CHANGE
B. for instance,
C. however,
D. meanwhile,
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3/4/24
Spiders are among the hardiest creatures in existence: these eight-legged insects live on every continent other than Antarctica and are established in nearly every habitat on Earth, excepting the air and the sea.
A. NO CHANGE
B. exempting
C. to exempt
D. with the exception of
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3/3/24
A lack of genetic diversity has proven disastrous to many commercial crops. For example, nearly all bananas for sale today are clones of a single parent plant called the Cavendish, initially bred in Great Britain during the nineteenth century. Although Cavendish bananas are hardier than other types of bananas, they are also less flavorful.
A. NO CHANGE
B. Cavendish; initially bred
C. Cavendish: initially bred
D. Cavendish, initially being bred
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3/2/24
From the mechanical humanoids in the 1927 film, Metropolis, to the sinister computer in Stanley Kubrick’s 2001 – A Space Odyssey (1968), movie robots have played a crucial role in shaping people’s attitudes toward these machines for decades.
A. NO CHANGE
B. film, Metropolis
C. film Metropolis,
D. film Metropolis
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3/1/24
The origins of meteorology, or the study of the weather, date back centuries: members of the first agricultural settlements predicted floods based on annual cycles, and inscriptions on ancient tablets referred to different seasons. It was not until just a few hundred years ago, however, that technology became sufficiently advanced to permit any real breakthroughs.
Which choice provides the most relevant and specific information?
A. NO CHANGE
B. noted the connection between thunder and rain.
C. were made with simple tools.
D. described a variety of plants and animals.
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