Verbal Diagonist Test

20 Questions

Time: 30 Minutes

For questions 1–6, select one entry for each blank from the corresponding column of choices. Fill in the blank in the way that best completes the text.

Question 7 is based on the following reading passage.

During an economic depression, it is common for food prices to increase even as incomes decrease. Surprisingly, however, researchers determined that during a depression, for every 5 percent increase in the cost of bread, the lowest socioeconomic class actually increases the amount of bread purchased per capita by 3 percent.

Question 8 is based on the following reading passage.

Bedbug infestations have been a problem in major cities for years. The pesticide DDT has been found to be useful in killing bedbugs. However, DDT was banned in the United States and has been replaced by weaker pesticides. Thus, there is no effective means for eradicating bedbugs in the United States.

Questions 9–12 are based on the following reading passage.

Dan Flavin’s the alternate diagonals of March 2, 1964 (to Don Judd), an 8-foot-long diagonal beam of light set at a 45-degree angle, is a colorful sculpture of light that is visually arresting, even from across the room. As one approaches the work, it is difficult not to become almost blinded by the intensity of the light and the vivacity of the colors. Though it may strike one as
(Line-5) garish on first glance, a more lengthy perusal reveals a delicate interplay between the red and yellow beams, giving the work a visual richness.
Alternate diagonals was made by Flavin in response to one of his own previous works, the diagonal of May 25, 1963 (to Constantin Brancusi). His first piece composed solely of light, the diagonal of May 25, 1963 was also an 8-foot-long fluorescent light sculpture (though Flavin
(Line-10) never liked to call them sculptures â€" he referred to them as "situations") hung at a 45-degree angle, and also included a yellow fluorescent light tube. Alternate diagonals seems almost more of an evolution of the former work than a response to it, but regardless of the exact nature of the intended interplay between the two, it is important to frame alternate diagonals as a companion work.
(Line-15) Alternate diagonals is a kind of ready-made, entirely made of fluorescent lights that anyone could find in any hardware store and construct as Flavin has. This is precisely what is so intriguing about the work – it toys with the boundaries of what we can define as a ready-made in contemporary art and, perhaps, within the field of art production itself. It forces a spectrum to be employed instead of a black and-white categorization of the ready-made — a spectrum
(Line-20) stretching between the “pure" ready-made (any work that essentially could be transferred straight from anyone’s garage to a gallery, such as Duchamp’s Bottle Rack), all the way to a contemporary two-dimensional work where the artist’s canvas and paints were purchased from an art supply store in an infinitely more manipulated but still semi-“readymade” fashion. Flavin’s piece, it seems, is situated somewhere in the center of such a spectrum, and raises the
(Line-25) question of where the “ready” ends and the “made” begins.

For questions 13–16, select the two answer choices that, when used to complete the sentence, fit the meaning of the sentence as a whole and produce completed sentences that are alike in meaning.

Questions 17 and 18 are based on the following reading passage.

In keeping with the notable incorporation of operatic elements into the rock music lexicon, the genre in the 1970’s experienced a significant shift in emphasis away from recording and toward music performance itself. Several factors effected this change. First, the extended length and the moralizing subject matter of songs of the era rendered them less appropriate
(Line 5) for radio play and more suitable for public presentation. Additionally, the advent of the concept album, in which multiple tracks revolved around a single unifying narrative or theme, furnished a basis upon which similarly calibrated performances could be enacted. Finally, as PA system technology improved, it became possible to hold concerts with 100,000 people or more, which encouraged artists to craft concerts that diverged from the merely musical toward
(Line 10) the experiential. Bands began conceiving of their performances as shows, more akin to musical theater guided by plot and setting than to the traditional concert guided by the omnipresent set-list. Instead of simply playing one song after another, therefore, bands developed full performance medleys revolving around specific motifs, and punctuated by bombastic light shows, costume changes, and other massive stunts. For example, the popular British band
(Line 15) Pink Floyd famously built a barrier in the middle of stage during one performance then had it dramatically knocked down mid-show as a promotion for their new album The Wall.

Questions 19 and 20 are based on the following reading passage.

In 1977, the Community Reinvestment Act was passed for the purpose of reducing discriminatory credit practices in low-income neighborhoods. The act required Federal financing supervisory agencies to use their authority to encourage lending institutions to meet the credit needs of all borrowers in their communities. The CRA had little impact until 1993,
(Line5) when the Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) initiated legal proceedings against lenders who declined too many applications from minority borrowers.
Some argue that, while providing equal access to credit is an important aim, pressure on lenders from HUD led to practices that later caused those same lenders to be assailed as "predatory." In Housing Boom and Bust, economist Thomas Sowell wrote that the CRA, far from
(Line10) being as benign as it appeared, was based on a flawed assumption: that government officials were qualified to tell banks how to lend the money entrusted to them by depositors and investors.

Consider each of the answer choices separately and indicate all that apply.