100 RCs for Digital SAT - 7 | 100 Reading Comprehensions for Digital SAT PDF Download

Q65: Passage
The following text is adapted from Susan Glaspell’s 1912 short story “‘Out There.’” An elderly shop owner is looking at a picture that he recently acquired and hopes to sell. It did seem that the picture failed to fit in with the rest of the shop. A persuasive young fellow who claimed he was closing out his stock let the old man have it for what he called a song. It was only a little out-of-the-way store which subsisted chiefly on the framing of pictures. The old man looked around at his views of the city, his pictures of cats and dogs, his flaming bits of landscape. “Don’t belong in here,” he fumed. And yet the old man was secretly proud of his acquisition. There was a hidden dignity in his scowling as he shuffled about pondering the least ridiculous place for the picture.

Q. Which choice best states the main purpose of the text?
(a) To reveal the shop owner’s conflicted feelings about the new picture
(b) To convey the shop owner’s resentment of the person he got the new picture from
(c) To describe the items that the shop owner most highly prizes
(d) To explain differences between the new picture and other pictures in the shop
Ans: (a)

• Choice A is the best answer because it most accurately describes the main purpose of the text. The text begins by stating that the new picture “failed to fit in” with the other items that the shop owner has. The text goes on to illustrate that point by describing the other pictures the shop owner has, indicating that the shop owner is fuming because he doesn’t think the new picture belongs in the store. In the second paragraph, however, the text indicates that the shop owner is “secretly proud of his acquisition.” The main purpose of the text is thus to reveal the shop owner’s conflicted feelings about the new picture.
• Choice B is incorrect because the text doesn’t suggest that the shop owner resents the young man who sold him the new picture; in fact, the text gives no indication of the owner’s feelings about the young man at all.
• Choice C is incorrect. Although the text indicates that the new picture is different from the other items in the shop, there’s no suggestion that the shop owner prizes either the new picture or the pictures of the city, pets, and landscapes more than he prizes any other items. 
• Choice D is incorrect because the text doesn’t describe what the new picture looks like; rather, the text identifies some of the other kinds of images that the shop owner has and states that they’re different from the new picture without explaining how they’re different.

Q66: Passage
The following text is from the 1923 poem “Black Finger” by Angelina Weld Grimké, a Black American writer. A cypress is a type of evergreen tree.

I have just seen a most beautiful thing,
Slim and still,
Against a gold, gold sky,
A straight black cypress,
Sensitive,
Exquisite,
A black finger
Pointing upwards.
Why, beautiful still finger, are you black?
And why are you pointing upwards?

Q. Which choice best describes the overall structure of the text?
(a) The speaker assesses a natural phenomenon, then questions the accuracy of her assessment.
(b) The speaker describes a distinctive sight in nature, then ponders what meaning to attribute to that sight.
(c) The speaker presents an outdoor scene, then considers a human behavior occurring within that scene.
(d) The speaker examines her surroundings, then speculates about their influence on her emotional state.
Ans: (b)

• Choice B is the best answer because it most accurately describes the overall structure of the text. First, the speaker describes observing a “most beautiful” sight: a tree (“black cypress”) standing out from the golden sky behind it, looking like a person’s finger “pointing upwards” and appearing “sensitive” and “exquisite.” Then the speaker wonders about the image’s meaning, asking why the finger is black and why it’s pointing upward. Thus, the text moves from the speaker’s description of a distinctive sight in nature to her pondering about what meaning to attribute to that sight.
• Choice A is incorrect because the speaker assesses a natural sight—a “black cypress” tree standing “against a gold, gold sky” like a pointed finger—but doesn’t question the accuracy of her own assessment. Although she wonders why the finger, which is really a tree, is black and why it’s pointing, the speaker doesn’t suggest that her belief that the tree resembles a finger is wrong.
• Choice C is incorrect. Although the speaker describes seeing a “black cypress” tree standing “against a gold, gold sky” like a pointed finger, she wonders about that natural image (asking why the finger, which is really a tree, is black and why it’s pointing) and doesn’t give any indication that any people are present in the scene.
• Choice D is incorrect. Although the speaker examines and wonders about one thing in her surroundings—a “black cypress” tree standing “against a gold, gold sky” like a pointed finger—she doesn’t address her own emotional state or consider how it’s affected by her surroundings.

Q67: Passage
The following text is from Walt Whitman’s 1860 poem “Calamus 24.”

I HEAR it is charged against me that I seek to destroy institutions;
But really I am neither for nor against institutions
(What indeed have I in common with them?—
Or what with the destruction of them?),
Only I will establish in the Mannahatta [Manhattan] and in every city of These States, inland and seaboard,
And in the fields and woods, and above every keel [ship] little or large, that dents the water,
Without edifices, or rules, or trustees, or any argument,
The institution of the dear love of comrades.

Q. Which choice best describes the overall structure of the text?
(a) The speaker questions an increasingly prevalent attitude, then summarizes his worldview.
(b) The speaker regrets his isolation from others, then predicts a profound change in society.
(c) The speaker concedes his personal shortcomings, then boasts of his many achievements.
(d) The speaker addresses a criticism leveled against him, then announces a grand ambition of his.
Ans: (d)

• Choice D is the best answer because it best describes the overall structure of the text. The speaker begins by stating that he has heard that others are accusing him of seeking to destroy institutions. The speaker then addresses this criticism by stating that he is “neither for nor against institutions.” Instead, the speaker states that his ultimate goal is to instill “the institution of the dear love of comrades” everywhere in the country. Therefore, the overall structure of the text is best described as an address of criticism followed by an announcement of a grand ambition.
• Choice A is incorrect. While the speaker does address an opinion of him that he believes to be untrue, he doesn’t indicate that this attitude has become increasingly prevalent. The speaker also concludes by explaining his goal for the future rather than his current worldview. 
• Choice B is incorrect because the text doesn’t portray the speaker as isolated or regretful, and the speaker gestures toward a hope for societal change but doesn’t offer an explicit prediction that it will happen.
• Choice C is incorrect because the speaker addresses a criticism of him that he believes to be false; he doesn’t admit any personal shortcomings. Moreover, the speaker concludes by stating a goal he has rather than showcasing his achievements.

Q68: Passage
The mimosa tree evolved in East Asia, where the beetle Bruchidius terrenus preys on its seeds. In 1785, mimosa trees were introduced to North America, far from any B. terrenus. But evolutionary links between predators and their prey can persist across centuries and continents. Around 2001, B. terrenus was introduced in southeastern North America near where botanist Shu-Mei Chang and colleagues had been monitoring mimosa trees. Within a year, 93 percent of the trees had been attacked by the beetles.

Q. Which choice best describes the function of the third sentence in the overall structure of the text?
(a) It states the hypothesis that Chang and colleagues had set out to investigate using mimosa trees and B. terrenus.
(b) It presents a generalization that is exemplified by the discussion of the mimosa trees and B. terrenus.
(c) It offers an alternative explanation for the findings of Chang and colleagues.
(d) It provides context that clarifies why the species mentioned spread to new locations.

Ans: (b)

• Choice B is the best answer because it most accurately describes the function of the third sentence within the overall structure of the text. The third sentence makes a generalization, asserting that evolutionary links between predators and prey can persist across great expanses of time and distance. This generalization is exemplified by the text’s discussion of the relationship between mimosa trees and B. terrenus beetles. When mimosa trees were introduced to North America in 1785, no B. terrenus beetles were present, so the relationship between the trees and the beetles that exists in their native East Asia was disrupted. When the beetles were introduced to North America more than 200 years later, however, they quickly attacked mimosa trees, illustrating the generalization that links between predators and prey “can persist across centuries and continents.”
• Choice A is incorrect because the third sentence doesn’t indicate that Chang and colleagues were investigating any particular hypothesis. According to the text, Chang and colleagues were simply monitoring mimosa trees when the beetles happened to be introduced to the area.
• Choice C is incorrect because the third sentence offers a generalization about the relationship between predators and prey, not an explanation for the findings of Chang and colleagues that differs from an explanation presented elsewhere in the text.
• Choice D is incorrect because the third sentence doesn’t discuss any particular species (either the species mentioned elsewhere in the text or any other) and doesn’t help explain why species spread to new locations.

Q69: Passage
Text 1
Conventional wisdom long held that human social systems evolved in stages, beginning with hunter-gatherers forming small bands of members with roughly equal status. The shift to agriculture about 12,000 years ago sparked population growth that led to the emergence of groups with hierarchical structures: associations of clans first, then chiefdoms, and finally, bureaucratic states.

Text 2
In a 2021 book, anthropologist David Graeber and archaeologist David Wengrow maintain that humans have always been socially flexible, alternately forming systems based on hierarchy and collective ones with decentralized leadership. The authors point to evidence that as far back as 50,000 years ago some hunter-gatherers adjusted their social structures seasonally, at times dispersing in small groups but also assembling into communities that included esteemed individuals.

Q. Based on the texts, how would Graeber and Wengrow (Text 2) most likely respond to the “conventional wisdom” presented in Text 1?
(a) By conceding the importance of hierarchical systems but asserting the greater significance of decentralized collective societies
(b) By disputing the idea that developments in social structures have followed a linear progression through distinct stages
(c) By acknowledging that hierarchical roles likely weren’t a part of social systems before the rise of agriculture
(d) By challenging the assumption that groupings of hunter-gatherers were among the earliest forms of social structure
Ans: (b)

• Choice B is the best answer because it describes the most likely way that Graeber and Wengrow (Text 2) would respond to the “conventional wisdom” presented in Text 1. According to Text 1, the conventional wisdom about human social systems is that they developed through stages, beginning with hunter-gatherer bands, then moving to clan associations, then chiefdoms, and finally arriving at states with bureaucratic structures. Text 2 indicates that Graeber and Wengrow believe that human social systems have been flexible, shifting between different types of structures, including both hierarchical and collective systems, and that these shifts may have even occurred seasonally. This suggests that Graeber and Wengrow would dispute the idea that developments in social structures have followed a linear progression through distinct stages.
• Choice A is incorrect because nothing in Text 2 suggests that Graeber and Wengrow believe that decentralized collective societies are more significant than hierarchical systems. Text 2 is focused on Graeber and Wengrow’s view that humans have flexibly shifted among various social structures, not on the importance of particular structures relative to others.
• Choice C is incorrect because Text 2 doesn’t include any information suggesting that Graeber and Wengrow believe that hierarchies didn’t emerge until after the rise of agriculture. In fact, Text 2 indicates that Graeber and Wengrow cite evidence suggesting that some hunter-gatherer groups formed social structures with hierarchical elements (“communities that included esteemed individuals”) 50,000 years ago, long before the rise of agriculture, which Text 1 says occurred around 12,000 years ago.
• Choice D is incorrect because there’s no information in Text 2 suggesting that Graeber and Wengrow would challenge the assumption that groupings of hunter-gatherers were among the earliest forms of social structure. Although Text 1 does indicate that hunter-gatherer groups are assumed to be the earliest human social system, Text 2 says only that Graeber and Wengrow believe that some hunter-gatherer groups made use of different social structures at different times. Text 2 doesn’t imply that Graeber and Wengrow doubt that hunter-gatherer groups preceded most other social structures.

Q70: Passage
The following text is adapted from Frances Hodgson Burnett’s 1911 novel The Secret Garden. Mary, a young girl, recently found an overgrown hidden garden.

Mary was an odd, determined little person, and now she had something interesting to be determined about, she was very much absorbed, indeed. She worked and dug and pulled up weeds steadily, only becoming more pleased with her work every hour instead of tiring of it. It seemed to her like a fascinating sort of play.

Q. Which choice best states the main idea of the text?
(a) Mary hides in the garden to avoid doing her chores.
(b) Mary is getting bored with pulling up so many weeds in the garden.
(c) Mary is clearing out the garden to create a space to play.
(d) Mary feels very satisfied when she’s taking care of the garden.

Ans: (d)

• Choice D is the best answer because it most accurately states the main idea of the text. The text describes Mary’s activities in an overgrown hidden garden, saying that she was “very much absorbed” and was “only becoming more pleased with her work every hour” rather than getting tired of it. She also thinks of garden activities as a “fascinating sort of play.” Thus, the main idea of the text is that Mary feels very satisfied when taking care of the garden.
• Choice A is incorrect because the text never makes any mention of Mary’s chores.
• Choice B is incorrect because the text indicates that Mary finds pulling up weeds to be fascinating, not boring.
• Choice C is incorrect because Mary thinks of garden activities in and of themselves as play, not as something necessary to do to create a space to play.