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English Test 100

Directions for Questions from 1 to 5:

The passage given below is followed by a question. Choose the most appropriate answer to each question.

Language is not a cultural artifact that we learn the way we learn to tell time or how the federal government works. Instead, it is a distinct piece of
the biological makeup of our brains. Language is a complex, specialized skill, which develops in the child spontaneously, without conscious effort or
formal instruction, is deployed without awareness of its underlying logic, is qualitatively the same in every individual, and is distinct from more
general abilities to process information or behave intelligently. For these reasons some cognitive scientists have described language as a
psychological faculty, a mental organ, a neural system, and a computational module. But I prefer the admittedly quaint term “instinct.” It conveys
the idea that people know how to talk in more or less the sense that spiders know how to spin webs. Web-spinning was not invented by some
unsung spider genius and does not depend on having had the right education or on having an aptitude for architecture or the construction trades.
Rather, spiders spin spider webs because they have spider brains, which give them the urge to spin and the competence to succeed. Although
there are differences between webs and words, I will encourage you to see language in this way, for it helps to make sense of the phenomena we
will explore.

Thinking of language as an instinct inverts the popular wisdom, especially as it has been passed down in the canon of the humanities and social
sciences. Language is no more a cultural invention than is upright posture. It is not a manifestation of a general capacity to use symbols: a three-
year-old, we shall see, is a grammatical genius, but is quite incompetent at the visual arts, religious iconography, traffic signs, and the other staples
of the semiotics curriculum. Though language is a magnificent ability unique to Homo sapiens among living species, it does not call for sequestering
the study of humans from the domain of biology, for a magnificent ability unique to a particular living species is far from unique in the animal
kingdom. Some kinds of bats home in on flying insects using Doppler sonar. Some kinds of migratory birds navigate thousands of miles by calibrating
the positions of the constellations against the time of day and year. In nature's talent show, we are simply a species of primate with our own act, a
knack for communicating information about who did what to whom by modulating the sounds we make when we exhale.

Once you begin to look at language not as the ineffable essence of human uniqueness but as a biological adaption to communicate information, it is
no longer as tempting to see language as an insidious shaper of thought, and, we shall see, it is not. Moreover, seeing language as one of
nature‟ s engineering marvels - an organ with “that perfection of structure and co-adaptation which justly excites our admiration,” in Darwin‟ s
words - gives us a new respect for your ordinary Joe and the much-maligned English language (or any language). The complexity of language, from
the scientist‟ s point of view, is part of our biological birthright; it is not something that parents teach their children or something that must be
elaborated in school - as Oscar Wilde said, “Education is an admirable thing, but it is well to remember from time to time that nothing that is worth
knowing can be taught.” A preschooler‟ s tacit knowledge of grammar is more sophisticated than the thickest style manual or the most state-of-the-
art computer language system, and the same applies to all healthy human beings, even the notorious syntax-fracturing professional athlete and
the, you know, like, inarticulate teenage skateboarder. Finally, since language is the product of a well-engineered biological instinct, we shall see
that it is not the nutty barrel of monkeys that entertainer-columnists make it out to be.

1. Which of the following best summarizes the passage?

j Language is unique to Homo sapiens.

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j Language is neither learnt nor taught.
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j Language is not a cultural invention or artifact as it is made out.
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j Language is instinctive ability of human beings.
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j Language is use of symbols unique to human beings.
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2. According to the passage, complexity of language cannot be taught by parents or at school to children because

j children instinctively know language.

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j children learn the language on their own.
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j language is not amenable to teaching.
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j children know language better than their teachers or parents.
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j children are born with the knowledge of semiotics.
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3. According to the passage, which of the following is unique to human beings?

j Ability to use symbols while communicating with one another.

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j Ability to communicate with each other through voice modulation.
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j Ability to communicate information to other members of the species.
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j Ability to use sound as means of communication.
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j All of the above.
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4. Which of the following can be used to replace the “spiders know how to spin webs” analogy as used by the author?

j A kitten learning to jump over a wall

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j Bees collecting nectar
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j A donkey carrying a load
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j A horse running a Derby
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j A pet dog protecting its owner‟ s property
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5. According to the passage, which of the following does not stem from popular wisdom on language?

j Language is a cultural artifact.

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j Language is a cultural invention.
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j Language is learnt as we grow.
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j Language is unique to Homo sapiens.
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j Language is a psychological faculty.
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Directions for Questions from 6 to 10:

Analyze the statements given and provide an appropriate answer for the question that follow.

6. Industry experts expect improvements in job safety training programs to lead to safer work environments. A recent survey indicated, however, that
for manufacturers who improved job safety
training programs during the 1980s, the number of on-the-job accidents increased in the months following the imparting of improved training
programs.

Which one of the following, if true, most helps to resolve the apparent discrepancy in the passage
above?

j A similar survey found that the number of on-the-job accidents remained constant after job safety training programs were improved in the
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transportation sector.
j Manufacturers tend to improve job safety training programs only when they are increasing the size of their workforce.
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j Manufacturers tend to improve job safety training programs only after they have noticed an increase in the number of on-thejob accidents.
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j It is likely that the increase in the number of on-the-job accidents experienced by many companies was not merely a random fluctuation.
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j Significant safety measures, such as protective equipment and government safety inspections, were in place well before the improvements in
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job safety training programs were undertaken.
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7. The number of airplanes equipped with a new anti-collision device has increased steadily during
the past two years. During the same period, it has become increasingly common for key information
about an airplane’s altitude and speed to disappear suddenly from air traffic controllers’ screens. The new anti-collision device, which operates at
the same frequency as air traffic radar, is therefore responsible for the sudden disappearance of key information.

Which one of the following, if true, most seriously weakens the argument above?

j The new anti-collision device has already prevented a considerable number of mid-air collisions.
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j It was not until the new anti-collision device was introduced that key information first began disappearing suddenly from controller’s screens.
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j The new anti-collision device is scheduled to be moved to a different frequency within the next two to three months.
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j Key information began disappearing from controller’s screen three months before the new anti-collision device was first tested.
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j The sudden disappearance of key information from controller’s screen has occurred only at relatively large airports.
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8. Most antidepressant drugs cause weight gain. While dieting can help reduce the amount of weight gained as one takes such antidepressants,
some weight gain is unlikely to be preventable.

The information above most strongly supports which one of the following?

j A physician should not prescribe any antidepressant drug for an overweight patient.
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 j People who are trying to lose weight should not ask their doctors for an antidepressant drug.
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j At least some patients gain weight as a result of taking antidepressant drugs.
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j The weight gain experienced by patients taking antidepressant drugs should be attributed to lack of dieting.
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j . All patients taking antidepressant drugs should diet to maintain their weight.
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9. Chandra: Hailey’s Comet, now in a part of its orbit relatively far from the Sun, recently flared brightly enough to be seen by telescope on earth. This
has never happened before, so such a flare must be highly unusual.
Surya: Nonsense. Usually no one bothers to observe comets when they are so far from the Sun. This flare was observed only because an
observatory was tracking Hailey’s Comet very carefully.

Surya challenges Chandra’s reasoning by

j Offering an alternative explanation for the evidence Chandra seeks to explain.

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j Drawing attention to an inconsistency between two of Chandra’s claims.
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j Presenting evidence that directly contradicts Chandra’s evidence.
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j Pointing out that Chandra’s use of the term “observed” is excessively vague.
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j Undermining some of Chandra’s evidence while agreeing with her conclusioUndermining some of Chandra’s evidence while agreeing with her
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conclusion.
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10. Prediction, the hallmark of natural sciences, appears to have been possible by reducing phenomena to mathematical expressions. Some social
scientists also want the power to predict accurately and assume they ought to perform the same reduction. But this would be a mistake, it would
neglect
data that are not easily mathematized and thereby would only distort the social phenomena.

Which one of the following most accurately expresses the main conclusion of the argument?

j The social sciences do not have as much predictive power as the natural sciences.
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j Mathematics plays a more important role in the natural sciences than it does in the social sciences.
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j Phenomena in the social sciences should not be reduced to mathematical formulae.
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j There is a need in the social sciences to improve the ability to predict.
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j Prediction is responsible for the success of the natural sciences.
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