J
Once again, we’re told that wide, shallow root systems help plants adjust to “occasional, but heavy rainfalls” (lines 10–11).
Choice (K), a flash flood, fits this description best.
26.
A
Passage II is a social studies passage about alchemy, the ancient science of trying to turn various different metals into gold.
Paragraph 1 emphasizes the historical importance of alchemy—even though it seems ridiculous to the modern mind, we’re
told, alchemy helped lay the basic framework for the science of chemistry. Paragraph 2 describes the philosophy behind
alchemy—the idea was that “base” metals such as copper and lead were just “imperfect” and could somehow be “purified”
and turned into gold. Paragraph 3 gives us some more history—Europeans were interested in alchemy from the twelfth
century until the seventeenth, and even Sir Isaac Newton dabbled in it.
This passage covers a lot of ground. There’s some discussion of how important alchemy was historically, there’s a paragraph
describing the theory behind alchemy, and there’s a paragraph on alchemy in Europe from the twelfth century onwards. So
really the passage can only be about the history of alchemy—choice (A). (B) is wrong because the alchemists never actually
managed to make gold, despite centuries of trying. Choices (C), (D), and (E) are all details that are part of the history of
alchemy.
27.
J
Lines 3–7 describe the reputation of alchemists today—we’re told that alchemy’s associations with astrology suggest
“primitive superstition” to the modern mind. (F) goes against the gist of the passage, which suggests overall that historians
know a lot about alchemy. (G) is a detail from paragraph 3, where we’re told that the alchemists’ idea of making gold was
disproved. But that just stopped people from trying to make gold—it wasn’t responsible for the unfavorable reputation of
alchemists today. (H) is contradicted in paragraph 3. And (K) distorts paragraph 1, where it’s stated that alchemists helped
develop modern “apparatuses and procedures.”
28.
A
Copper and lead are discussed in paragraph 2. Lines 23–24 indicate that the alchemists believed they were “only imperfectly
developed forms of gold.”
29.
H
The “purification” process is described in paragraph 2; towards the end of the paragraph, we’re told that the process had a
“profound significance for the alchemists”—metals attained a state of perfection just as souls attained perfection in heaven.
You can infer from this that the alchemists regarded the process as being parallel to a spiritual experience—choice (H). Sir
Isaac Newton (F) is not mentioned in connection with purification. No distortion of Arabic works (G) is stated or implied.
The twelfth century (J) is described as the time when alchemy became widespread in Europe, so presumably the purification
process was first attempted earlier. (K) is a big distortion—alchemists were clearly aware that they were trying to make
gold, the most valuable of metals.
30.
31. A
