SSAT Reading Practice Worksheet - 28

Read each passage carefully and then answer the questions about it. For each question, decide on the basis of the passage which one of the choices best answers the question.

Passage 1

The following passage is adapted from a work of narrative fiction.

The train lurched forward, and Maya pressed her forehead against the cool window, watching the platform dissolve into a blur of gray concrete and rust-colored brick. She had left Toronto only twice before, both times for weekend trips to her aunt’s cottage, and now she was (5) heading to Vancouver with nothing but a duffel bag and a letter she had not yet opened. Her mother had handed it to her that morning without explanation, her face unreadable, and Maya had stuffed it into her jacket pocket where it seemed to burn against her ribs.     The compartment (10) smelled of stale coffee and someone’s overly sweet perfume. Across from her sat an elderly man engrossed in a crossword puzzle, his pencil moving in fits and starts. Maya envied his concentration. Her own thoughts refused to settle, skipping from the letter to her father’s (15) unexpected phone call three weeks ago to the scholarship interview that awaited her in Vancouver. She had not seen her father in six years, not since he had moved west after the divorce, and his voice on the phone had sounded both familiar and strange, like a song she (20) had once known by heart but could no longer quite recall.

1. The passage is narrated from the point of view of

1. an objective observer with no access to any character’s thoughts
2. Maya, using first-person narration
3. a narrator with access to Maya’s thoughts and feelings
4. the elderly man sitting across from Maya
5. Maya’s mother, reflecting on her daughter’s departure

2. As used in line 5, the word “heading” most nearly means

1. traveling
2. leading
3. titled
4. directing
5. confronting

3. The passage suggests that Maya’s mother’s expression when handing over the letter was

1. overtly angry and resentful
2. joyful and encouraging
3. difficult to interpret
4. filled with obvious sadness
5. indifferent and uncaring

4. The author’s description of the letter as seeming to “burn against her ribs” (line 9) primarily suggests that

1. the letter is physically hot to the touch
2. Maya is experiencing physical pain
3. Maya feels intense curiosity and anxiety about the letter
4. the letter contains information about a fire
5. Maya dislikes receiving letters from her mother

5. According to the passage, Maya has left Toronto previously

1. only once before this trip
2. twice for brief visits to her aunt’s cottage
3. several times to visit her father in Vancouver
4. never before this journey
5. many times for various family trips

6. The comparison of her father’s voice to “a song she had once known by heart but could no longer quite recall” (lines 19-20) emphasizes

1. Maya’s complete inability to recognize her father
2. the passage of time and erosion of familiarity
3. Maya’s talent for music and singing
4. her father’s career as a professional musician
5. the anger Maya feels toward her father

7. The overall mood of the passage can best be described as

1. celebratory and triumphant
2. uncertain and reflective
3. angry and confrontational
4. peaceful and content
5. frightened and panicked

Passage 2

The following passage is adapted from an article about historical linguistics.

The Rosetta Stone, discovered in 1799 by French soldiers near the town of Rosetta in Egypt, proved instrumental in deciphering Egyptian hieroglyphics, but the process of decoding this ancient script was neither swift nor straightforward. The stone itself contained the same (5) decree inscribed in three different writing systems: hieroglyphics, Demotic script, and ancient Greek. Since scholars could read ancient Greek, they possessed a potential key to unlock the other two scripts. However, the assumption that hieroglyphics represented a purely symbolic or pictorial language, rather than (10) a phonetic one, misled researchers for decades.     Jean-François Champollion, a French scholar with an extraordinary gift for languages, ultimately achieved the breakthrough in 1822. Unlike his predecessors, Champollion recognized that hieroglyphics combined both ideographic symbols, which represent entire (15) concepts, and phonetic symbols, which represent sounds. This insight emerged partly from his study of Coptic, a later form of the Egyptian language still used in Christian liturgy. By comparing the Coptic language with the hieroglyphic inscriptions and using the Greek text as a guide, Champollion identified (20) the phonetic values of numerous hieroglyphic signs. His discovery revolutionized Egyptology, transforming hieroglyphics from mysterious symbols into a readable script that revealed millennia of Egyptian history, literature, and culture.

8. The primary purpose of the passage is to

1. argue that Champollion was the greatest linguist of his era
2. describe the physical characteristics of the Rosetta Stone
3. explain how Egyptian hieroglyphics were eventually deciphered
4. compare different ancient writing systems used in Egypt
5. criticize earlier scholars for their mistaken assumptions

9. According to the passage, the Rosetta Stone contained inscriptions in how many different writing systems?

1. Two
2. Three
3. Four
4. Five
5. Six

10. As used in line 7, the word “key” most nearly means

1. musical tone
2. essential element
3. locking mechanism
4. solution or method
5. island formation

11. The passage indicates that early attempts to decipher hieroglyphics were hindered by the belief that hieroglyphics were

1. entirely phonetic in nature
2. identical to ancient Greek
3. purely symbolic rather than phonetic
4. too damaged to be read accurately
5. unrelated to any other known language

12. The author mentions Coptic primarily to

1. demonstrate Champollion’s wide-ranging linguistic knowledge
2. explain one of the resources that helped Champollion make his discovery
3. argue that Coptic is superior to ancient Egyptian
4. suggest that all ancient languages are related
5. criticize scholars who ignored this language

13. It can be inferred from the passage that hieroglyphics are

1. composed exclusively of ideographic symbols
2. impossible to translate with complete accuracy
3. a combination of phonetic and ideographic elements
4. simpler than Demotic script
5. unrelated to the Coptic language

14. The passage suggests that Champollion’s achievement had which of the following effects?

1. It made the Rosetta Stone obsolete for linguistic study
2. It enabled scholars to access previously unreadable Egyptian texts
3. It proved that all ancient languages used phonetic symbols
4. It led to the immediate discovery of new Egyptian monuments
5. It demonstrated that Greek was derived from Egyptian

Passage 3

The following is an excerpt from Chief Seattle’s reply to the U.S. government’s offer to purchase tribal lands, delivered in 1854.

How can you buy or sell the sky, the warmth of the land? The idea is strange to us. If we do not own the freshness of the air and the sparkle of the water, how can you buy them? Every part of this earth is sacred to my (5) people. Every shining pine needle, every sandy shore, every mist in the dark woods, every clearing and humming insect is holy in the memory and experience of my people. The sap which courses through the trees carries the memories of the red man.     The white man’s dead forget (10) the country of their birth when they go to walk among the stars. Our dead never forget this beautiful earth, for it is the mother of the red man. We are part of the earth and it is part of us. The perfumed flowers are our sisters; the deer, the horse, the great eagle, these are our (15) brothers. The rocky crests, the juices in the meadows, the body heat of the pony, and man—all belong to the same family. So, when the Great Chief in Washington sends word that he wishes to buy our land, he asks much of us.

15. The primary purpose of the opening rhetorical questions (lines 1-3) is to

1. request information about the government’s payment methods
2. express the speaker’s confusion about legal procedures
3. emphasize the fundamental difference between two worldviews
4. demonstrate the speaker’s lack of education
5. suggest that the sky and land have no value

16. As used in line 4, the word “sacred” most nearly means

1. expensive
2. religious
3. frightening
4. deeply revered
5. unknown

17. According to the passage, the white man’s dead differ from the speaker’s people’s dead in that they

1. are buried in different types of graves
2. forget their homeland after death
3. do not believe in an afterlife
4. are more numerous
5. receive greater honors

18. The speaker’s statement that “the sap which courses through the trees carries the memories of the red man” (lines 7-8) suggests that

1. trees contain actual human memories in their sap
2. his people’s history and identity are inseparable from the natural world
3. the trees were planted by his ancestors
4. sap has practical uses in his culture
5. trees are more important than other natural elements

19. The tone of the passage can best be described as

1. angry and threatening
2. indifferent and detached
3. reverent and imploring
4. celebratory and joyful
5. scientific and analytical

20. The passage suggests that the speaker views the government’s offer to buy the land as

1. a generous and fair proposal
2. an opportunity for economic advancement
3. a request that reflects a profound misunderstanding
4. an insult that deserves an angry response
5. a legally binding contract that must be accepted

■ ■ ■   STOP   ■ ■ ■

IF YOU FINISH BEFORE TIME IS CALLED, YOU MAY CHECK YOUR WORK ON THIS SECTION ONLY. DO NOT TURN TO ANY OTHER SECTION OF THE TEST.

Answer Key

1. Ans: (C) – a narrator with access to Maya’s thoughts and feelings
Explanation: This is a Structure/Organization question. The passage is written in third person (“Maya pressed,” “she was heading”) but provides direct access to Maya’s internal thoughts and feelings, such as “Her own thoughts refused to settle” (lines 13-14) and her envy of the man’s concentration. Choice (A) is incorrect because the narrator clearly has access to Maya’s thoughts, not just observable actions. Choice (B) is incorrect because the passage uses third-person pronouns (“she,” “her”) rather than first-person (“I”).

2. Ans: (A) – traveling
Explanation: This is a Vocabulary in Context question. In line 5, “heading” is used to mean “going in the direction of” or “traveling toward” Vancouver. Choice (C) is incorrect because “titled” refers to a different meaning of “heading” as a noun meaning the title of a section. Choice (E) is incorrect because “confronting” suggests a direct challenge, which does not fit the context of physical travel.

3. Ans: (C) – difficult to interpret
Explanation: This is a Detail/Fact question. The passage states that Maya’s mother handed her the letter “without explanation, her face unreadable” (lines 7-8), which directly indicates that her expression could not be easily interpreted. Choice (A) is incorrect because the passage does not describe the mother as angry. Choice (B) is incorrect because “unreadable” contradicts the idea of an obviously joyful expression.

4. Ans: (C) – Maya feels intense curiosity and anxiety about the letter
Explanation: This is an Inference question. The metaphorical description of the letter burning against her ribs (line 9) conveys Maya’s acute awareness of and emotional response to the unopened letter. Choice (A) is incorrect because the burning is clearly figurative, not literal. Choice (D) is incorrect because it misinterprets the figurative language as relating to the content of the letter rather than Maya’s emotional state.

5. Ans: (B) – twice for brief visits to her aunt’s cottage
Explanation: This is a Detail/Fact question. The passage explicitly states that “She had left Toronto only twice before, both times for weekend trips to her aunt’s cottage” (lines 3-4). Choice (A) is incorrect because the passage says “twice,” not once. Choice (C) is incorrect because the passage mentions her aunt’s cottage, not visits to her father in Vancouver.

6. Ans: (B) – the passage of time and erosion of familiarity
Explanation: This is an Extended Reasoning question. The simile in lines 19-20 compares her father’s voice to something once well known but now half-forgotten, emphasizing how their six-year separation has weakened Maya’s sense of familiarity with him. Choice (A) is incorrect because the passage indicates the voice was both “familiar and strange,” not completely unrecognizable. Choice (C) is incorrect because the comparison relates to memory and familiarity, not musical ability.

7. Ans: (B) – uncertain and reflective
Explanation: This is a Tone/Mood question. The passage portrays Maya in a state of contemplation, with “thoughts refused to settle” (line 14) and uncertainty about the unopened letter and her upcoming reunion with her father. Choice (A) is incorrect because there is no sense of celebration in Maya’s anxious, questioning state of mind. Choice (E) is incorrect because while Maya is unsettled, the passage does not depict panic or fear.

8. Ans: (C) – explain how Egyptian hieroglyphics were eventually deciphered
Explanation: This is a Main Idea question. The passage focuses on the process by which hieroglyphics were decoded, from the discovery of the Rosetta Stone to Champollion’s breakthrough in 1822 (lines 12-22). Choice (B) is incorrect because the passage mentions the stone’s discovery but does not focus on describing its physical characteristics. Choice (E) is incorrect because while the passage mentions earlier scholars’s errors, criticism is not the primary purpose.

9. Ans: (B) – Three
Explanation: This is a Detail/Fact question. The passage explicitly states that the Rosetta Stone contained “the same decree inscribed in three different writing systems: hieroglyphics, Demotic script, and ancient Greek” (lines 4-6). Choice (A) is incorrect because three, not two, systems are listed. Choice (C) is incorrect because the passage clearly specifies three writing systems.

10. Ans: (D) – solution or method
Explanation: This is a Vocabulary in Context question. In line 7, “key” is used metaphorically to mean a tool or method for solving the puzzle of deciphering the hieroglyphics. Choice (A) is incorrect because “musical tone” represents a completely different meaning of “key.” Choice (C) is incorrect because while “locking mechanism” is a literal meaning of “key,” the context requires the metaphorical meaning of a solution.

11. Ans: (C) – purely symbolic rather than phonetic
Explanation: This is a Detail/Fact question. The passage states that “the assumption that hieroglyphics represented a purely symbolic or pictorial language, rather than a phonetic one, misled researchers for decades” (lines 8-10). Choice (A) is incorrect because it reverses the actual mistaken belief. Choice (D) is incorrect because damage to the inscriptions is not mentioned as a hindrance.

12. Ans: (B) – explain one of the resources that helped Champollion make his discovery
Explanation: This is an Author’s Purpose question. The passage explains that Champollion’s study of Coptic, “a later form of the Egyptian language,” helped him identify phonetic values in hieroglyphics (lines 16-20). Choice (C) is incorrect because the passage makes no comparison of superiority between Coptic and ancient Egyptian. Choice (E) is incorrect because the passage does not criticize other scholars for ignoring Coptic.

13. Ans: (C) – a combination of phonetic and ideographic elements
Explanation: This is an Inference question. The passage states that Champollion “recognized that hieroglyphics combined both ideographic symbols, which represent entire concepts, and phonetic symbols, which represent sounds” (lines 13-16). Choice (A) is incorrect because it contradicts the passage’s statement that hieroglyphics combine both types of symbols. Choice (E) is incorrect because the passage indicates that Coptic, a later form of Egyptian, helped Champollion decipher hieroglyphics, suggesting a relationship between the languages.

14. Ans: (B) – It enabled scholars to access previously unreadable Egyptian texts
Explanation: This is an Extended Reasoning question. The passage concludes that Champollion’s discovery transformed hieroglyphics “from mysterious symbols into a readable script that revealed millennia of Egyptian history, literature, and culture” (lines 21-23). Choice (A) is incorrect because the Rosetta Stone remained important as the foundation for the decipherment. Choice (C) is too broad and distorts what the passage says; Champollion’s discovery related specifically to Egyptian hieroglyphics, not all ancient languages.

15. Ans: (C) – emphasize the fundamental difference between two worldviews
Explanation: This is an Author’s Purpose question. The opening rhetorical questions (lines 1-3) highlight the conceptual impossibility, from the speaker’s perspective, of buying or selling natural elements, thus emphasizing the cultural divide between his people’s and the government’s views of land. Choice (A) is incorrect because these are rhetorical questions meant to make a point, not to request actual information. Choice (E) is incorrect because the speaker is arguing that the sky and land are invaluable and sacred, not valueless.

16. Ans: (D) – deeply revered
Explanation: This is a Vocabulary in Context question. In line 4, “sacred” is used to convey the profound spiritual significance and reverence the speaker’s people feel toward the earth. Choice (A) is incorrect because “expensive” relates to monetary value, which contradicts the speaker’s argument that the land cannot be bought or sold. Choice (B) is too narrow; while “sacred” can mean religious, “deeply revered” better captures the full sense in this context.

17. Ans: (B) – forget their homeland after death
Explanation: This is a Detail/Fact question. The passage states, “The white man’s dead forget the country of their birth when they go to walk among the stars. Our dead never forget this beautiful earth” (lines 9-11). Choice (C) is incorrect because the passage mentions the white man’s dead walking “among the stars,” suggesting they do have an afterlife. Choice (D) is incorrect because the passage makes no comparison of numbers.

18. Ans: (B) – his people’s history and identity are inseparable from the natural world
Explanation: This is an Inference question. The metaphor of sap carrying memories (lines 7-8) illustrates the deep, organic connection between the speaker’s people and the land, suggesting their identity is woven into nature itself. Choice (A) is incorrect because it interprets the figurative language too literally. Choice (E) is incorrect because the passage presents many natural elements as equally important, listing “flowers,” “deer,” “horse,” and “eagle” (lines 13-15) alongside the trees.

19. Ans: (C) – reverent and imploring
Explanation: This is a Tone/Mood question. The speaker’s tone combines deep reverence for the land, evident in descriptions of earth as “sacred” (line 4) and elements as “holy” (line 6), with an imploring quality as he attempts to convey his perspective to the government. Choice (A) is incorrect because while the speaker disagrees with the offer, the tone is not threatening. Choice (B) is incorrect because the passionate, detailed descriptions show the speaker is deeply engaged, not indifferent.

20. Ans: (C) – a request that reflects a profound misunderstanding
Explanation: This is an Extended Reasoning question. The speaker’s opening rhetorical questions and explanation of his people’s relationship to the land demonstrate that he views the government’s offer as based on a fundamentally different and incompatible understanding of land ownership (lines 1-18). Choice (A) is incorrect because the speaker questions the very premise of buying and selling land, not the fairness of the price. Choice (D) is incorrect because the tone, while serious and concerned, is not angry or insulting.