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SAT Reading Practice Passage
SAT Reading Practice Test Comprehensive Passage
This passage is adapted from Tom Wolfe, “Pell-Mell.” When the Atlantic Monthly asked several writers and intellectuals to share their thoughts on the state of the American Idea. Tom Wolfe shared this article. The following 10 multiple choice questions are based on the passage below.
Since you asked the American idea was born at | |
approximately 5 p.m. on Friday, December 2, 1803, the | |
moment Thomas Jefferson sprang the so-called pell-mell on | |
the new British ambassador, Anthony Merry, at dinner in the | |
Line 5 | White House. Oh, this was no inadvertent faux pas. This was |
faux pas aforethought. Jefferson obviously loved the prospect | |
of dumbfounding the great Brit and leaving him speechless, | |
furious, seething, so burned up that smoke would start | |
coming out of his ears. And all that the pell-mell did. | |
Line 10 | Jefferson had already tenderized the ambassador three days |
earlier. Merry was the first foreign diplomat to take up | |
residence in Washington. Accompanied by Secretary of State | |
James Madison, he shows up at the White House wearing a | |
hat with a swooping plume, a ceremonial sword, gold braid, | |
Line 15 | shoes with gleaming buckles — in short, the whole |
aristocratic European ambassadorial getup — for his formal | |
introduction to the president of the United States. He is | |
immediately baffled. Jefferson doesn’t come to greet him in | |
the grand reception hall. Instead, Merry and Madison have to | |
Line 20 | go looking for him Bango! All at once they bump into the |
American head of state in some tiny tunnel-like entryway to | |
his study. What with three men and a sword in it all at once, | |
the space is so congested that Merry has to back himself and | |
his sword out of it just to have room to shake hands. When | |
Line 25 | he shakes hands, he’s stunned, appalled: The president of the |
United States is a very Hogarth of utter slovenliness from his | |
head to his torso, clad in a casual workaday outfit thrown | |
together with a complete indifference to appearances and a | |
negligence so perfectly gross, it has to have been actually | |
Line 30 | studied down to his feet. which are stuffed, or mostly stuffed, |
into a pair of down-at-the-heels slippers, literally slippers and | |
literally worn down at the heels in a way that is sheer Gin | |
Lane. “Utter slovenliness,” “negligence actually studied,” | |
“indifference to appearances,’ and “down at the heels” were | |
Line 35 | Merry’s own words in the first of what would become a |
regular jeremiad of complaints and supplications to Lord | |
Hawkesbury, the foreign secretary, all but coming right out | |
and begging him to break off relations with the United States | |
to protest such pointed insults toward His Majesty’s | |
Line 40 | representative. Merry was ready to bail out and his wife, a |
notably not-shy woman née Elizabeth Death (yes), even | |
more so. | |
The introductory insult was on November 29. Merry and his | |
wife were invited to dinner at the White House on the fateful | |
Line 45 | day, December 2. Merry accepted warily under the |
impression that he and his wife would be the guests of honor | |
and that this would be Jefferson’s opportunity to make up for | |
his lapse in protocol. The Merrys arrived at 4:30. Along with | |
the other guests, they were assembled for a reception in a | |
Line 50 | drawing room across the hall from the dining room. The |
Merrys were left flabbergasted and aghast when Jefferson | |
ignored Mrs. Merry and gave his arm to Dolley Madison, | |
who often served as White House hostess for the widowed | |
president. James Madison gave his arm to an already furious | |
Line 55 | Mrs. Merry. The dining room seems to have had a single |
large, round table. Jefferson took a seat and gave Dolley | |
Madison the ladies’ seat of honor on his right. James | |
Madison didn’t give Elizabeth Death Merry the seat on the | |
president’s other side, however. That went to the Spanish | |
Line 60 | ambassador’s wife. The already insulted Mrs. Merry, guest of |
honor presumptive, took it like a kick in the shin when | |
Madison showed her to an obviously back-of-the-pack seat. | |
Meantime, her husband’s dignity was taking an even worse | |
beating. He was part of an undifferentiated haunch-to-paunch | |
Line 65 | herd of the titled, the untitled, the eminences, and the |
not-muches entering the doorway. They had no choice but to | |
take their seats pell-mell any seat — first come, first served. | |
Literally pell-mell referred to a confused, disorderly crowd in | |
a headlong rush, and that was exactly what it felt like to His | |
Line 70 | Majesty’s Ambassador Merry. An outrageous insult was now |
in progress, but he had only two choices: take a seat or make | |
a scene. So he headed for a chair next to the Spanish | |
ambassador’s wife. But before he could get to it, some crude | |
savage who bore the title “Congressman” lunged past him | |
Line 75 | and took it for himself. |
SAT Reading Comprehension Practice Test Questions
SAT Reading Practice Test Question No 1
The article is mainly concerned with
Option A : accounting for a debacle in a historical setting.
Option B : describing an incident during a nation’s founding period.
Option C : ridiculing an opinion by detailing its absurd outcomes.
Option D : examining the historical significance of a particular event.
SAT Practice Test Answer No 1
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Option A : accounting for a debacle in a historical setting.
SAT Reading Practice Test Question No 2
In line 3, the word “pell-mell” actually means
Option A : asign indicating confusion.
Option B : ascene void of etiquette.
Option C : abreach of set protocol.
Option D : acts of vicious crimes.
SAT Practice Test Answer No 2
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Option B : scene void of etiquette.
SAT Reading Practice Test Question No 3
In line 5, the author suggests that “this was no inadvertent faux pas” because
Option A : it overstepped the limits of acceptable diplomatic manners to most of the nations.
Option B : Jefferson had no clear afterthought regarding the consequences of his acts.
Option C : the head of the states clearly intended to and prepared for humiliating the diplomat.
Option D : the Britain ambassador was unexpectedly aggravated by the impoliteness.
SAT Practice Test Answer No 3
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Option C : the head of the states clearly intended to and prepared for humiliating the diplomat.
SAT Reading Practice Test Question No 4
In the second paragraph, the author takes the pains to describe the dress and manner of Merry primarily in order to
Option A : recognize the seriousness in Merry’s own preparation.
Option B : ridicule the pretentiousness of the British delegate.
Option C : highlight the actual value of the elegant statesman attires.
Option D : form a stark contrast with the casual manner of Jefferson.
SAT Practice Test Answer No 4
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Option D : form a stark contrast with the casual manner of Jefferson.
SAT Reading Practice Test Question No 5
In line 18, the word “baffled” most correctly means
Option A : dumbfounded.
Option B : infuriated.
Option C : antagonized.
Option D : soothed.
SAT Practice Test Answer No 5
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Option A : dumbfounded.
SAT Reading Practice Test Question No 6
Based on the information of the article, it can be inferred from the ways Jefferson greeted the British ambassador that
Option A : he was not entirely astonished by the sudden and unscheduled visit of Merry.
Option B : he carried such an aloof attitude in many aspects of his personal life.
Option C : he intended such a careless appearance as a political gesture during the meeting.
Option D : he had no preliminary plans to confront the enraged foreign diplomat.
SAT Practice Test Answer No 6
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Option C : he intended such a careless appearance as a political gesture during the meeting.
SAT Reading Practice Test Question No 7
Which choice provides the best evidence for the answer to the previous question?
Option A : Lines 10-12 (“Jefferson… Washington”)
Option B : Lines 17-22 (“He…study”)
Option C : Lines 24-33 (“When…Lane”)
Option D : Lines 43-48 (“The…4:30”)
SAT Practice Test Answer No 7
Show/Hide Answer
Option C : Lines 24-33 (“When…Lane”)
SAT Reading Practice Test Question No 8
In line 41, the word “yes” is placed within the parenthesis in order to
Option A : emphasize the boldness of the ambassador’s wife.
Option B : negate the characterization aforementioned.
Option C : recognize the limitations of a previous statement.
Option D : clarify a confusing term in the discussion.
SAT Practice Test Answer No 8
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Option A : emphasize the boldness of the ambassador’s wife.
SAT Reading Practice Test Question No 9
In line 51, “flabbergasted” has the meaning of
Option A : assuaged,
Option B : appalled.
Option C : angered.
Option D : alleviated.
SAT Practice Test Answer No 9
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Option B : appalled.
SAT Reading Practice Test Question No 10
According to the passage, it can ably be inferred that the seating of Spanish ambassador’s wife in line 59-60
Option A : conformed with the regularity of behavior for politician.
Option B : coincided with the common expectation of all guests.
Option C : went against the normal propriety in diplomatic banquet.
Option D : contradicted with the common senses usually made.
SAT Practice Test Answer No 10
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Option C : went against the normal propriety in diplomatic banquet.
SAT Reading Practice Test Question No 11
The author suggested that Mr. marry suffered an even more serious hit of his pride when
Option A : he was taken by the crowds of insignificant statemen.
Option B : he could not ever find himself an unimportant seat.
Option C : he found his wife was not even seated near the president.
Option D : he was not welcomed with dignity and propriety at all.
SAT Practice Test Answer No 11
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Option B : he could not ever find himself an unimportant seat.
>SAT Reading Practice Test Question No 11
The author suggested that Mr. marry suffered an even more serious hit of his pride when
Option A : he was taken by the crowds of insignificant statemen.
Option B : he could not ever find himself an unimportant seat.
Option C : he found his wife was not even seated near the president.
Option D : he was not welcomed with dignity and propriety at all.
SAT Practice Test Answer No 11
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Option D : he was not welcomed with dignity and propriety at all.
SAT Reading Practice Test Question No 12
Which choice provides the best evidence for the answer to the previous question?
Option A : Lines 5-9 (“oh…did”)
Option B : Lines 43-50 (“the…room”)
Option C : Lines 59-62) (“that…seat”)
Option D : Lines 70-75 (“An…himself”)
SAT Practice Test Answer No 12
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Option B : Lines 43-50 (“the…room”)
SAT Reading Practice Test Question No 13
The author tone in describing the whole incident in the white house dinner was
Option A : sensible.
Option B : humorous.
Option C : playful.
Option D : serious.
SAT Practice Test Answer No 13
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Option B : humorous.