QUESTION 1
On average, each person in the United States and Canada uses more than 300 gigajoules (GJ) (equivalent to about 60 barrels) of oil per year. By contrast, in some of the poorest countries of the world, such as Ethiopia, Nepal, and Bhutan, each person generally consumes less than 1 GJ per year.

The primary purpose of this passage is to
a. inform.
b. persuade.
c. entertain.

QUESTION 2
The foundation of public education has always been reading, writing, and arithmetic—the “three R’s.” Yet the schools insist that students who have not mastered these fundamentals continue to take all the other subjects as well. What good does it do for young people to sit in on a history or science class if they can’ t read or calculate well? Schools ought to require students who are very far behind in the fundamentals to devote all their time to the three R’s until they are at or near grade level.

The primary purpose of this passage is to
a. inform.
b. persuade.
c. entertain.

QUESTION 3
(1) Eye contact, also referred to as gaze, is how and how much we look at people with whom we are communicating. (2) By maintaining our eye contact, we can tell when or whether people are paying attention to us, when people are involved in what we are saying, and whether what we are saying is eliciting feelings. (3) The amount of eye contact differs from person to person and from situation to situation. (4) Studies show that talkers hold eye contact about 40 percent of the time and listeners nearly 70 percent of the time. (5) We generally maintain better eye contact when we are discussing topics with which we are comfortable, when we are genuinely interested in a person’s comments or reactions, or when we are trying to influence the other person. (6) On the other hand, we tend to avoid eye contact when we are discussing topics that make us uncomfortable, when we lack interest in the topic or person, or when we are embarrassed, ashamed, or trying to hide something.

The primary purpose of this passage is to
a. inform.
b. persuade.
c. entertain.

QUESTION 4
(1) Recently, my sister asked me to baby-sit her two sons for the evening. (2) I figured I would get them dinner, let them watch a little TV, and then put them to bed early. (3) The rest of the night I planned to watch TV and collect an easy twenty dollars. (4) Well, right before we sat down for a pizza dinner, Rickie let the parakeet out of its cage. (5) The dog started chasing the bird as it flew around the house, so I decided to catch it before the dog did. (6) The boys and I had the bird cornered by the fireplace when Rickie jumped for it and knocked over the hamster cage. (7) The hamsters took off under the sofa while the bird flew away. (8) Fortunately, the dog had disappeared at this point. (9) I took care of the hamsters while the boys caught the parakeet and put it back in its cage. (10) When we returned to the kitchen to eat cold pizza, I discovered why the dog had lost interest in the bird chase. (11) What was left of the pizza was lying on the floor, and tomato sauce was dripping like blood from the dog’ s chin. (12) Later, when my sister returned, I took the twenty dollars and told her to get someone else next time.

The tone of this passage is
a. humorous.
b. warm.
c. bitter.

QUESTION 5
(1) Whatever happened to the practice of saving up for what you want? (2) It seems nobody has that kind of patience any more. (3) Many Americans buy what they want when they want it and worry about paying for it later. (4) The average American spends significantly more than he or she earns, much to the enjoyment of the credit-card companies. (5) Apparently people need to reach a financial crisis before they realize that it’s downright stupid to neglect balancing their budgets and saving for a rainy day.

The tone of this passage is
a. solemn.
b. critical.
c. furious.

QUESTION 6
(1) Machines are complete mysteries to me, and this has resulted in some embarrassing service calls at my home. (2) For example, there was the time I called in a repairman because our refrigerator was too warm. (3) Imagine my humiliation when he told me that the cause of the problem was a dirty filter, which I didn’t know existed and therefore hadn’t cleaned even once in the two years we owned the refrigerator. (4) The best example of my brilliance with machines, however, has to be the time I called for someone to fix my washing machine. (5) The repairman’s solution was simply to put the plug back in the outlet, from which it had been jarred loose by the constant vibration of the washer.

The tone of this passage is
a. straightforward.
b. disbelieving.
c. self-mocking.