Reading Passage for HSPT - 26

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 to a stop at the platform in Krakow just as the first snow began to fall. Tomasz pressed his forehead against the cold window, watching the flakes settle on the iron rails below. He had not been back (5) to this city in eleven years, not since the morning his mother had sent him away with nothing but a canvas rucksack and his father’s watch. Now he was twenty-six, a university graduate with a position waiting for him in (10) Warsaw, but he had chosen to break his journey here, compelled by something he could not name.     As he stepped onto the platform, the smell of roasting chestnuts and diesel smoke flooded his senses. He moved through the crowd with (15) deliberate slowness, as though the station itself might dissolve if he walked too quickly. The arched ceiling overhead was just as he remembered it, though the paint had faded and several of the glass panels were cracked. Near the newsstand, an old woman (20) sold paper cones of sunflower seeds, her hands moving with the same practiced rhythm his grandmother’s hands had once possessed.

1. The passage is narrated from which point of view?

1. First person
2. Second person
3. Third person limited
4. Third person omniscient

2. According to the passage, Tomasz left Krakow

1. to attend university in Warsaw
2. eleven years before the events described
3. on a snowy winter morning
4. with his father’s encouragement

3. As used in line 11, the word compelled most nearly means

1. forced
2. driven
3. obligated
4. commanded

4. The detail that Tomasz moves through the crowd “with deliberate slowness” (lines 14-15) suggests that he

1. is physically exhausted from his journey
2. wants to savor his return to a familiar place
3. is searching for someone in the station
4. fears being recognized by people from his past

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

1. melancholy and reflective
2. anxious and foreboding
3. joyful and celebratory
4. bitter and resentful

6. The passage suggests that Tomasz’s decision to stop in Krakow was

1. required by his new employer
2. made at his mother’s request
3. motivated by emotional rather than practical reasons
4. part of his original travel plans

7. The description of the old woman selling sunflower seeds (lines 18-21) primarily serves to

1. illustrate the poverty that still afflicts the city
2. connect Tomasz’s present experience to his memories
3. suggest that nothing in Krakow has changed
4. introduce a character who will play a role later in the story

Passage 2

The following passage is adapted from a general-audience archaeology article.

    For decades, archaeologists believed that the construction of Göbekli Tepe, a massive stone temple complex in southeastern Turkey, marked an anomaly in human prehistory. The site, which dates to approximately 9600 BCE, predates (5) Stonehenge by more than six thousand years and was erected by people who, according to conventional wisdom, should not yet have possessed the social organization necessary for such an undertaking. The hunter-gatherers of the Pre-Pottery Neolithic period were (10) thought to live in small, mobile bands, their energies consumed entirely by the search for food. Yet Göbekli Tepe required the coordinated labor of hundreds of workers and the transport of limestone pillars weighing up to sixteen tons.     Recent (15) excavations have begun to reshape this narrative. Botanists analyzing soil samples from the site have identified remnants of wild cereals and legumes in concentrations that suggest deliberate cultivation, though not full-scale agriculture. Meanwhile, zooarchaeologists have found (20) evidence of feasting on a grand scale: the bones of gazelles, wild cattle, and boar, all butchered and cooked in enormous quantities. These findings suggest that Göbekli Tepe may have functioned as a regional gathering place, where dispersed groups came together periodically (25) for ritual and communal meals, creating the social cohesion necessary to undertake monumental construction.

8. The main idea of the passage is that

1. Göbekli Tepe is the oldest known religious structure in the world
2. recent discoveries are changing how scholars understand the society that built Göbekli Tepe
3. hunter-gatherers were more advanced than modern archaeologists previously believed
4. the construction of Göbekli Tepe required agricultural practices

9. According to the passage, Göbekli Tepe was built around

1. 3000 BCE
2. 9600 BCE
3. 6000 years after Stonehenge
4. the Pre-Pottery Neolithic period began

10. As used in line 7, the word undertaking most nearly means

1. burial
2. promise
3. project
4. assumption

11. The author mentions Stonehenge (line 5) in order to

1. compare the architectural styles of different ancient monuments
2. emphasize the exceptional age of Göbekli Tepe
3. argue that British monuments are less significant than Turkish ones
4. provide evidence that the two sites were built by the same culture

12. The evidence of wild cereals and legumes (lines 17-19) suggests that the people at Göbekli Tepe

1. had developed full-scale agricultural systems
2. were beginning to experiment with plant cultivation
3. imported food from distant farming communities
4. relied exclusively on hunting for their sustenance

13. The author’s purpose in the second paragraph is to

1. describe the physical structure of Göbekli Tepe in detail
2. present new evidence that challenges earlier assumptions
3. explain the religious beliefs of Pre-Pottery Neolithic people
4. argue that Göbekli Tepe was built by a single tribe

14. Based on the passage, the findings at Göbekli Tepe challenge the belief that

1. prehistoric people never consumed meat
2. monumental architecture requires settled agricultural societies
3. stone temples were built only in Turkey
4. all ancient sites have been fully excavated

Passage 3

The following passage is adapted from a historical document.

    I appear before you this evening as a thief and a robber. I stole this head of hair from the South, and I robbed the cradle of a child in South Carolina. I have been engaged in this work for nearly thirty years, (5) and I have never been caught. I have brought away three hundred head of your property, worth nearly two hundred thousand dollars, and I never lost a single passenger on the underground railroad. I never ran my train off the track, and I never lost a passenger. (10) And do you know why? Because I consulted the conductor of the underground railroad – the North Star. When that became clouded, I looked to the trees and the moss that grew on their trunks. In the winter, when there was no moss and (15) the stars were obscured, I found other signs. With these guides I have always been able to outstrip the best-trained bloodhounds of the South. I have seen their masters come to the North hunting for their lost property. Did they find it? No! (20) I took good care of that.

15. The speaker of this passage is describing her work as

1. a conductor on the Underground Railroad
2. a professional thief in South Carolina
3. an astronomer and naturalist
4. a train engineer in the antebellum South

16. As used in line 9, the word passenger most nearly means

1. traveler on a commercial train
2. enslaved person seeking freedom
3. paying customer
4. child separated from parents

17. According to the passage, the speaker used all of the following as navigational aids EXCEPT

1. the North Star
2. moss on tree trunks
3. bloodhounds
4. unspecified signs found in winter

18. The tone of the passage is best described as

1. apologetic and remorseful
2. defiant and proud
3. objective and scholarly
4. uncertain and hesitant

19. The speaker’s reference to herself as “a thief and a robber” (line 1) is

1. a sincere admission of criminal guilt
2. an ironic adoption of the slaveholders’ perspective
3. evidence that she regrets her actions
4. a legal defense against prosecution

20. The speaker’s statement that she “never lost a passenger” (lines 7-8) suggests that

1. no enslaved person she helped was ever recaptured
2. her train always ran on schedule
3. she kept detailed financial records
4. bloodhounds never tracked her movements

Answer Key

1. Ans: (C) – Third person limited
Explanation: This is a Structure/Organization question. The passage is told from an outside narrator’s perspective but focuses exclusively on Tomasz’s thoughts and perceptions (lines 1-11), which is characteristic of third person limited narration. Choice (A) is wrong because the passage uses “he” rather than “I.” Choice (D) is wrong because the narrator does not reveal the inner thoughts of multiple characters, only Tomasz.

2. Ans: (B) – eleven years before the events described
Explanation: This is a Detail/Fact question. The passage explicitly states that Tomasz “had not been back to this city in eleven years” (lines 4-5). Choice (A) is wrong because he is going to Warsaw now, not eleven years ago. Choice (C) is wrong because the passage states he left “the morning his mother had sent him away” (line 6) but does not say it was snowy.

3. Ans: (B) – driven
Explanation: This is a Vocabulary in Context question. In line 11, Tomasz is described as “compelled by something he could not name,” meaning he felt internally driven or motivated to return. Choice (A) is wrong because “forced” suggests external coercion, while the passage indicates the compulsion is internal. Choice (D) is wrong because “commanded” also implies an external authority giving orders.

4. Ans: (B) – wants to savor his return to a familiar place
Explanation: This is an Inference question. The deliberate slowness (lines 14-15) combined with the explanation that he moves “as though the station itself might dissolve if he walked too quickly” (lines 15-16) suggests he is trying to absorb and preserve the experience. Choice (A) is wrong because nothing in the passage indicates physical exhaustion. Choice (C) is wrong because there is no mention of him looking for anyone.

5. Ans: (A) – melancholy and reflective
Explanation: This is a Tone/Mood question. The passage’s focus on memory, loss, and returning after eleven years (lines 4-7), combined with sensory details that trigger remembrance (lines 17-21), creates a melancholy and reflective mood. Choice (C) is wrong because there is no joy or celebration in the passage. Choice (D) is wrong because Tomasz shows no bitterness or resentment.

6. Ans: (C) – motivated by emotional rather than practical reasons
Explanation: This is an Inference question. The passage states he “had chosen to break his journey here, compelled by something he could not name” (lines 10-11), indicating an emotional rather than practical motivation. Choice (A) is wrong because his position is waiting in Warsaw, not Krakow. Choice (B) is wrong because there is no mention of his mother requesting this visit.

7. Ans: (B) – connect Tomasz’s present experience to his memories
Explanation: This is an Author’s Purpose question. The description explicitly links the old woman’s hands to “the same practiced rhythm his grandmother’s hands had once possessed” (lines 20-21), connecting present to past. Choice (A) is wrong because the detail serves a literary purpose, not a socioeconomic observation. Choice (C) is wrong because the passage also notes changes like faded paint and cracked glass (lines 17-18).

8. Ans: (B) – recent discoveries are changing how scholars understand the society that built Göbekli Tepe
Explanation: This is a Main Idea question. The passage opens with conventional beliefs about the site (lines 1-13) and then presents how “recent excavations have begun to reshape this narrative” (lines 14-15), with the second paragraph providing new evidence. Choice (D) is wrong because the passage states the evidence suggests “deliberate cultivation, though not full-scale agriculture” (lines 18-19). Choice (C) is too broad, as the passage focuses specifically on Göbekli Tepe, not all hunter-gatherers.

9. Ans: (B) – 9600 BCE
Explanation: This is a Detail/Fact question. The passage explicitly states that “the site, which dates to approximately 9600 BCE” (lines 3-5). Choice (C) reverses the relationship stated in the passage, which says Göbekli Tepe predates Stonehenge by six thousand years (line 5), not the other way around. Choice (D) is true but does not answer when it was built.

10. Ans: (C) – project
Explanation: This is a Vocabulary in Context question. In line 7, “undertaking” refers to the construction of the temple complex, meaning a large project or enterprise. Choice (A) is wrong because “burial” is an unrelated meaning of “undertaking” not supported by context. Choice (D) is wrong because “assumption” does not fit the context of coordinated labor and construction.

11. Ans: (B) – emphasize the exceptional age of Göbekli Tepe
Explanation: This is an Author’s Purpose question. The passage mentions that Göbekli Tepe “predates Stonehenge by more than six thousand years” (lines 4-6) to show how remarkably old the Turkish site is. Choice (A) is wrong because the passage makes no comparison of architectural styles. Choice (C) is wrong because the passage makes no value judgment about which monument is more significant.

12. Ans: (B) – were beginning to experiment with plant cultivation
Explanation: This is an Inference question. The passage states the cereals and legumes were found “in concentrations that suggest deliberate cultivation, though not full-scale agriculture” (lines 18-19), indicating experimentation. Choice (A) is wrong because the passage explicitly states it was not “full-scale agriculture.” Choice (D) is wrong because the evidence of plant use contradicts exclusive reliance on hunting.

13. Ans: (B) – present new evidence that challenges earlier assumptions
Explanation: This is an Author’s Purpose question. The second paragraph opens by stating that “recent excavations have begun to reshape this narrative” (lines 14-15) and then presents botanical and zooarchaeological findings. Choice (A) is wrong because the paragraph focuses on new research findings, not physical description. Choice (D) is wrong because the passage suggests “dispersed groups came together periodically” (lines 23-24), not a single tribe.

14. Ans: (B) – monumental architecture requires settled agricultural societies
Explanation: This is an Extended Reasoning question. The passage explains that conventional wisdom held that hunter-gatherers lacked “the social organization necessary” (lines 6-7) for such construction, but the evidence now suggests otherwise. Choice (A) is wrong because the passage discusses meat consumption at the site (lines 19-21) and never suggests anyone believed prehistoric people were vegetarian. Choice (C) is wrong because geographic distribution of temples is never discussed.

15. Ans: (A) – a conductor on the Underground Railroad
Explanation: This is a Main Idea question. The speaker explicitly refers to “the underground railroad” (lines 7-8) and describes bringing enslaved people (“your property”) to freedom over thirty years. Choice (B) is wrong because the speaker’s self-description as a thief is clearly ironic given the context of freeing enslaved people. Choice (D) is wrong because “train” and “railroad” are metaphors, not literal transportation.

16. Ans: (B) – enslaved person seeking freedom
Explanation: This is a Vocabulary in Context question. In the context of the Underground Railroad (line 8), “passenger” refers to enslaved people being helped to escape, as reinforced by the reference to “three hundred head of your property” (lines 5-6). Choice (A) is wrong because this is metaphorical, not a literal commercial train. Choice (C) is wrong because freedom seekers did not pay for passage.

17. Ans: (C) – bloodhounds
Explanation: This is a Detail/Fact question. The passage mentions the North Star (line 11), moss on trees (lines 12-13), and other winter signs (lines 14-15) as navigational aids. Bloodhounds (line 17) were used by slaveholders to track the speaker, not by the speaker for navigation. Choice (A) is wrong because the North Star is explicitly mentioned as a guide in line 11. Choice (B) is wrong because moss is mentioned in lines 12-13.

18. Ans: (B) – defiant and proud
Explanation: This is a Tone/Mood question. The speaker boasts of her success (“I have never been caught,” line 4, and “I never lost a passenger,” lines 7-8) and challenges those who hunted her (lines 16-20), creating a defiant and proud tone. Choice (A) is wrong because the speaker shows no remorse for her actions. Choice (C) is wrong because the passage is a personal testimony, not an objective scholarly account.

19. Ans: (B) – an ironic adoption of the slaveholders’ perspective
Explanation: This is an Inference question. The speaker uses the language slaveholders would use to describe her actions (line 1), but the context makes clear she views her work as heroic, not criminal, creating irony. Choice (A) is wrong because her proud tone throughout contradicts sincere admission of guilt. Choice (C) is wrong because nothing in the passage suggests regret.

20. Ans: (A) – no enslaved person she helped was ever recaptured
Explanation: This is an Inference question. In the context of the Underground Railroad, “never lost a passenger” (lines 7-8) means all the people she helped reached freedom safely without being caught. Choice (B) is wrong because “train” is a metaphor, not a literal railway schedule. Choice (D) is wrong because the passage states she could “outstrip” bloodhounds (line 17), not that they never tracked her.