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Home > Quizzes and Fun Tests > SAT Practice Tests > SAT Practice Test - Critical Reading

SAT Practice Test - Critical Reading

Welcome to the QuizMoz SAT Practice Test - Critical Reading. QuizMoz offers one of the Internet's largest collection of quizzes for you to tease your brain and pit your wits against the experienced QuizMoz quiz masters. Go ahead and find out what you know about yourself and the world around you. Best of luck!!

Coverage :
The SAT Practice Test - Critical Reading has been designed to test the important aspects of Critical Reading. The test entails reading a long or a short passage based on general subjects and determine any of the folowing:
- the author's point in the passage
- the author's tone
- the gist of the passage
The test may also contain dual passages, and the test taker may be asked questions on both the first and the second passage.

SAT Practice Test - Critical Reading Discussion Forum

This Question is based on the following passage:

  The passage deals with the rampant spread of aggressive marketing world over.

"What is that women really want?" this universally popular
question was asked by Dr Sigmund Freud after almost three
decades of clinical psychoanalytic practice and analyzing the
ramifications of the female mind. The answer is, as most men 
5  would guess, still elusive, but Harvard Business School
experts believe that, in some small little way, they have been
able to identify the brainwaves that tell women to "buy, buy
now"; as also the negative "fight/fight" rejection waves that
compel her to say, "No, I will come again sometime." The 
10  Business School team worked with the university's
Psychology dean, applying a modern method known as
Positron Emission Tomography (PET). It is often said about
Harvard experts, "You can always tell them in any crowd,
but you can not tell them much." When it comes to shopping, 
15  say the researchers, it is because of an unconscious
process that whatever the consumer thinks and says is quite
different from what he does. Some giant names in the
corporate world today and multi-million dollar MNCs
are said to be sponsoring a hush-hush research and have reported 
20  some success in the advanced trials they have made with
the new techniques. In the 21st century, these corporations
hope to rake millions and billions by the proposed paradigm
shift in the market strategy. The late David Ogilvy used
to caution his copywriters that "the customer is not a moron�
25  she is your wife." The new marketing hypnosis will
greatly help the giant companies to create new products,
retail outlets and advertising so as to subconsciously
stimulate similar brainwaves, egging people to buy. Previous
market surveys went off the mark because they based their 
30  probes on the conscious mind; the trick is to trick the
subconscious and the "sublimely subliminal" is music to the
ears of sales people, jaded with sameness and a sense of d�j�
vu. Commentator Clive James once said, "The last stage of
fitting the product to the market is to fit the market to the 
35  product." Critics have called the subliminal research
"sinister" and charged big companies with unfair trade
practices, where the people's preferences are manipulated
and emotions of customers are crudely played with. In their
eagerness to assess facts, a car company reports a 30 per cent 
40  spurt in sales, while shoe-designers in Britain said the
Feng Shui way of rearranging their outlet had made a
difference. Perhaps even India's Vastu Shastra hides another
feel good component!

About what did David Ogilvy caution his copywriters and why?

The fight/fight syndrome in his lady shoppers

He was oblivious to the subconscious process at work among his customer's mind

To encourage the sales force and to avoid repetition

To caution his sales force to be wary of Harvard professors

He did not want his sales force to indulge in unfair trade practices

Please provide appropriate updations

Ques

Your Name
Please describe the changes made by you

This Question is based on the following passage:

  The passage deals with the rampant spread of aggressive marketing world over.

"What is that women really want?" this universally popular
question was asked by Dr Sigmund Freud after almost three
decades of clinical psychoanalytic practice and analyzing the
ramifications of the female mind. The answer is, as most men 
5  would guess, still elusive, but Harvard Business School
experts believe that, in some small little way, they have been
able to identify the brainwaves that tell women to "buy, buy
now"; as also the negative "fight/fight" rejection waves that
compel her to say, "No, I will come again sometime." The 
10  Business School team worked with the university's
Psychology dean, applying a modern method known as
Positron Emission Tomography (PET). It is often said about
Harvard experts, "You can always tell them in any crowd,
but you can not tell them much." When it comes to shopping, 
15  say the researchers, it is because of an unconscious
process that whatever the consumer thinks and says is quite
different from what he does. Some giant names in the
corporate world today and multi-million dollar MNCs
are said to be sponsoring a hush-hush research and have reported 
20  some success in the advanced trials they have made with
the new techniques. In the 21st century, these corporations
hope to rake millions and billions by the proposed paradigm
shift in the market strategy. The late David Ogilvy used
to caution his copywriters that "the customer is not a moron�
25  she is your wife." The new marketing hypnosis will
greatly help the giant companies to create new products,
retail outlets and advertising so as to subconsciously
stimulate similar brainwaves, egging people to buy. Previous
market surveys went off the mark because they based their 
30  probes on the conscious mind; the trick is to trick the
subconscious and the "sublimely subliminal" is music to the
ears of sales people, jaded with sameness and a sense of d�j�
vu. Commentator Clive James once said, "The last stage of
fitting the product to the market is to fit the market to the 
35  product." Critics have called the subliminal research
"sinister" and charged big companies with unfair trade
practices, where the people's preferences are manipulated
and emotions of customers are crudely played with. In their
eagerness to assess facts, a car company reports a 30 per cent 
40  spurt in sales, while shoe-designers in Britain said the
Feng Shui way of rearranging their outlet had made a
difference. Perhaps even India's Vastu Shastra hides another
feel good component!

Why are critics against subliminal research?

It revolves around the subconscious and not the conscious

It is in favor of those companies who can afford to sponsor million dollar researches and not of "shop around the corner" stores

It plays with customers emotions only for achieving high profit margins of the corporate giants.

It adversely affects the customer as he is tricked into buying what is of no constructive use to him

It will have no end and push the companies into an even more ominous research about the customer's subconscious

Please provide appropriate updations

Ques

Your Name
Please describe the changes made by you

This Question is based on the following passage:

  The passage deals with the rampant spread of aggressive marketing world over.

"What is that women really want?" this universally popular
question was asked by Dr Sigmund Freud after almost three
decades of clinical psychoanalytic practice and analyzing the
ramifications of the female mind. The answer is, as most men 
5  would guess, still elusive, but Harvard Business School
experts believe that, in some small little way, they have been
able to identify the brainwaves that tell women to "buy, buy
now"; as also the negative "fight/fight" rejection waves that
compel her to say, "No, I will come again sometime." The 
10  Business School team worked with the university's
Psychology dean, applying a modern method known as
Positron Emission Tomography (PET). It is often said about
Harvard experts, "You can always tell them in any crowd,
but you can not tell them much." When it comes to shopping, 
15  say the researchers, it is because of an unconscious
process that whatever the consumer thinks and says is quite
different from what he does. Some giant names in the
corporate world today and multi-million dollar MNCs
are said to be sponsoring a hush-hush research and have reported 
20  some success in the advanced trials they have made with
the new techniques. In the 21st century, these corporations
hope to rake millions and billions by the proposed paradigm
shift in the market strategy. The late David Ogilvy used
to caution his copywriters that "the customer is not a moron�
25  she is your wife." The new marketing hypnosis will
greatly help the giant companies to create new products,
retail outlets and advertising so as to subconsciously
stimulate similar brainwaves, egging people to buy. Previous
market surveys went off the mark because they based their 
30  probes on the conscious mind; the trick is to trick the
subconscious and the "sublimely subliminal" is music to the
ears of sales people, jaded with sameness and a sense of d�j�
vu. Commentator Clive James once said, "The last stage of
fitting the product to the market is to fit the market to the 
35  product." Critics have called the subliminal research
"sinister" and charged big companies with unfair trade
practices, where the people's preferences are manipulated
and emotions of customers are crudely played with. In their
eagerness to assess facts, a car company reports a 30 per cent 
40  spurt in sales, while shoe-designers in Britain said the
Feng Shui way of rearranging their outlet had made a
difference. Perhaps even India's Vastu Shastra hides another
feel good component!

Why did the earlier market surveys not fetch the desired results?

It emphasized on female customers only

The present day techniques of conducting a survey were not available then

Due importance was not given to the study of market trends

Research on marketing went off the tangent

It did not take the subconscious mind into account

Please provide appropriate updations

Ques

Your Name
Please describe the changes made by you

This Question is based on the following passage:

  The passage discusses the author's philosophy that confusions and misconceptions of the human mind deflects one from attaining one's highest goal.

Human experience is usually a cacophony of voices,
thoughts and emotions. Many of us are in this position of
perplexity where our mind is captivated by wrong
perceptions of reality. This is why pain and suffering are 
5  integral to our lives, in spite of the material conveniences
and facilities that science has provided us with. The noise
that human beings make in the form of negative thoughts
and emotions is evidence of the absolute mess they have
made of themselves and their lives. Part of this confusion 
10  arises from the fact that most people go through life
without really knowing what they want. At any point in
life, if you go by past experience or if you trust your mind
to decide what is possible and what is not then you will
end up settling for mediocrity. We are always trying to create 
15  our life based on the reality that exists around us at that
 particular moment. Where we want to go tomorrow need
not be concerned with where we are right now.
Our highest goal in life need not have anything to do with
our present situation. If we enslave our vision to the current 
20  situation then we are once again settling for what is
attainable, what is easy, what we think is possible. If man
has a vision of what he wants to do with himself and the
world around him, it is not beyond man's capacity to create
it. It may happen in this lifetime, or it may take him a 
25  couple of lifetimes, but what is wished for by man will
definitely happen. This is because we will seek our vision
every moment of our life. Then the highest things in life
will fall at our feet. It is only because man is a bundle of
confusions and spends most of his time seeking what he 
30  doesn't want that things he really wants never come to
him. This lack of vision and will is definitely because of a
distorted understanding of reality.

According to the author, our linking of our future with the present:

will not lead to higher goals

is an absolute necessity

leads to stagnation of the soul

is unattainable

is inevitable for our sustenance

Please provide appropriate updations

Ques

Your Name
Please describe the changes made by you

This Question is based on the following passage:

  The passage discusses the author's philosophy that confusions and misconceptions of the human mind deflects one from attaining one's highest goal.

Human experience is usually a cacophony of voices,
thoughts and emotions. Many of us are in this position of
perplexity where our mind is captivated by wrong
perceptions of reality. This is why pain and suffering are 
5  integral to our lives, in spite of the material conveniences
and facilities that science has provided us with. The noise
that human beings make in the form of negative thoughts
and emotions is evidence of the absolute mess they have
made of themselves and their lives. Part of this confusion 
10  arises from the fact that most people go through life
without really knowing what they want. At any point in
life, if you go by past experience or if you trust your mind
to decide what is possible and what is not then you will
end up settling for mediocrity. We are always trying to create 
15  our life based on the reality that exists around us at that
 particular moment. Where we want to go tomorrow need
not be concerned with where we are right now.
Our highest goal in life need not have anything to do with
our present situation. If we enslave our vision to the current 
20  situation then we are once again settling for what is
attainable, what is easy, what we think is possible. If man
has a vision of what he wants to do with himself and the
world around him, it is not beyond man's capacity to create
it. It may happen in this lifetime, or it may take him a 
25  couple of lifetimes, but what is wished for by man will
definitely happen. This is because we will seek our vision
every moment of our life. Then the highest things in life
will fall at our feet. It is only because man is a bundle of
confusions and spends most of his time seeking what he 
30  doesn't want that things he really wants never come to
him. This lack of vision and will is definitely because of a
distorted understanding of reality.

Which of the following, in context of the passage most weakens the author's argument?

We must aspire for that is seemingly impossible

We are responsible for our own confusion

Little do we realize what we can achieve

If humans set their mind to something, they will achieve it

We understand, with an astute sense of perceptibility, the stark realities of life

Please provide appropriate updations

Ques

Your Name
Please describe the changes made by you

This Question is based on the following passage:

  The passage discusses the author's philosophy that confusions and misconceptions of the human mind deflects one from attaining one's highest goal.

Human experience is usually a cacophony of voices,
thoughts and emotions. Many of us are in this position of
perplexity where our mind is captivated by wrong
perceptions of reality. This is why pain and suffering are 
5  integral to our lives, in spite of the material conveniences
and facilities that science has provided us with. The noise
that human beings make in the form of negative thoughts
and emotions is evidence of the absolute mess they have
made of themselves and their lives. Part of this confusion 
10  arises from the fact that most people go through life
without really knowing what they want. At any point in
life, if you go by past experience or if you trust your mind
to decide what is possible and what is not then you will
end up settling for mediocrity. We are always trying to create 
15  our life based on the reality that exists around us at that
 particular moment. Where we want to go tomorrow need
not be concerned with where we are right now.
Our highest goal in life need not have anything to do with
our present situation. If we enslave our vision to the current 
20  situation then we are once again settling for what is
attainable, what is easy, what we think is possible. If man
has a vision of what he wants to do with himself and the
world around him, it is not beyond man's capacity to create
it. It may happen in this lifetime, or it may take him a 
25  couple of lifetimes, but what is wished for by man will
definitely happen. This is because we will seek our vision
every moment of our life. Then the highest things in life
will fall at our feet. It is only because man is a bundle of
confusions and spends most of his time seeking what he 
30  doesn't want that things he really wants never come to
him. This lack of vision and will is definitely because of a
distorted understanding of reality.

What will lead us to attain what we have not?

clarity of vision

foresightedness

realizing the negative thoughts in the world around us

identifying only that which is attainable

scientific developments

Please provide appropriate updations

Ques

Your Name
Please describe the changes made by you

This Question is based on the following passage:

  The passage discusses the author's philosophy that confusions and misconceptions of the human mind deflects one from attaining one's highest goal.

Human experience is usually a cacophony of voices,
thoughts and emotions. Many of us are in this position of
perplexity where our mind is captivated by wrong
perceptions of reality. This is why pain and suffering are 
5  integral to our lives, in spite of the material conveniences
and facilities that science has provided us with. The noise
that human beings make in the form of negative thoughts
and emotions is evidence of the absolute mess they have
made of themselves and their lives. Part of this confusion 
10  arises from the fact that most people go through life
without really knowing what they want. At any point in
life, if you go by past experience or if you trust your mind
to decide what is possible and what is not then you will
end up settling for mediocrity. We are always trying to create 
15  our life based on the reality that exists around us at that
 particular moment. Where we want to go tomorrow need
not be concerned with where we are right now.
Our highest goal in life need not have anything to do with
our present situation. If we enslave our vision to the current 
20  situation then we are once again settling for what is
attainable, what is easy, what we think is possible. If man
has a vision of what he wants to do with himself and the
world around him, it is not beyond man's capacity to create
it. It may happen in this lifetime, or it may take him a 
25  couple of lifetimes, but what is wished for by man will
definitely happen. This is because we will seek our vision
every moment of our life. Then the highest things in life
will fall at our feet. It is only because man is a bundle of
confusions and spends most of his time seeking what he 
30  doesn't want that things he really wants never come to
him. This lack of vision and will is definitely because of a
distorted understanding of reality.

The author can be described as a:

Philanthropist

Iconoclast

Philosopher

Pedagogue

Visionary

Please provide appropriate updations

Ques

Your Name
Please describe the changes made by you

This Question is based on the following passage:

    
Passage one traces the history of wine and drinking. Passage two highlights the author's trenchant view of prohibition by the state and imposed morality.

Passage-1

The god of wine, Dionysus is also called Bacchus
by both Romans and Greeks. In Homer's time,
Dionysus was not one of the patrician deities, but
a god whom the humble folks worshipped, a god 
5  who was brought into Greece from Thrace in
the 8th century B.C. by peripatetic bands of
rapturous worshippers. Dionysus was thus, a god
of vital, intoxicating powers of nature, and also,
because of his close connection with tillage and 
10  early civilization, he seen to be as a law giver.
He was represented as young, handsome, and
aesthetic in art forms, but later on, the artistic
representations of his form became slightly
effeminate. He was accompanied by a wild crowd 
15  of Satyrs, and Maenads, the latter hysterical
with wine and mystical exaltation, and carrying
cymbals, swords, or serpents, or the Thyrsus, a
wand wreathed with ivy and crowned with fir-
cone. Women were strongly attracted towards the 
20  worship of Dionysus. Many of them spent
their entire nights on the mountain in euphoric
dancing and tearing wild animals to pieces. The
myths of Dionysus are evidence that there was
first much opposition to the ritual use of wine and 
25  the frenzy it engendered. The earlier drink of
the Greeks had been a kind of beer flavored with,
ivy and mead, and mead was the drink of Homer's
Olympians. Wine was not invented by the Greeks
but imported by them from Crete whither the wine 
30  culture had spread from Mt. Nyasa, Libya.

Passage-2

I thoroughly disapprove of prohibition by law. It
is, according to me, a futile attempt at self-
arrogated morality. Wine is as old as gods and it
has come down to us through ages and scriptures 
5  as an unmatched soothe for the human misery.
It is our legacy of an age when gods were mortal
and men were divine, and even though wine was
considered to be a monstrous evil since its first sip
by man, he has not stopped drinking at its bubbly 
10  fountain of vice and forgetfulness. 
If legislation is needed, or sought after, by a
nation to maintain the morality of its people, I
deem it to be indeed a regrettable state of affairs. 
Saints have discoursed great sermons on the evil 
15  of drinking but this gospel of saints has
always remained a bad sermon in the world of
sinners. It is good for the saints to preach but daft
for the state to enforce that preaching, for what is
enforced by law ceases to be moral. A virtue is a 
20  virtue only when it is acquired through self-
realization, not when it is forced on the lives of
the people. Every new law creates a new crowd of
law-breakers and one more sin is added to the
sum-total of human crimes. As Goldsmith says, 
25  the virtue which requires, to be ever guarded,
is scarcely worth its sentinel.

No virtue remains a virtue unless:

It is acquired through self-realization.

The sentinel is not discarded.

The state thrusts it on people

It is initially disregarded by the people

It is specified in the sermons.

Please provide appropriate updations

Ques

Your Name
Please describe the changes made by you

This Question is based on the following passage:

  This passage is based on the discussion about the prospective exploitation of third world countries by unscrupulous MNCs through the misuse of biotechnology.

The term "biotechnology" is used to describe a number of
powerful techniques, many of which are only recent developments.
Today, because of the advancements in science, it is not
inconceivable to take genes (the basic material in an organism that 
5  contains the code for its reproduction and growth), split and
slice them, graft them on to another organism, thereby
'manufacturing' a whole new life form. It is also not beyond
the reach of man to clone a particular kind of super-cereal or super-
vegetable with very high yields using certain simple laboratory 
10  techniques, and then imbue it with the desired properties.
But even biotechnology, with all its advantages and boons, is not
available to man without its price. It presents the manifold threats
of overproduction of the most profitable variety of grains or
cereals, substitution of natural by engineered products, the shift of 
15  production from the fields of the third world to the laboratories
and factories of the first, and the loss of negotiating power for
producers of specific commodities within a general category in
comparison with the market as a whole.
For example, the processing of raw agricultural products can be 
20  biologically tailored in such a way that all vegetable oils are
"equalized". Cheap cocoa can replace expensive varieties. And the
characteristics of a distinct variety of coffee can be transferred to
another, cheaper variety - much to the great disadvantage of the
former.
25  The even more portentous fact is that now the biotech firms are
packaging their technology in a way that favors vertical integration
and monopolies. The seed and agrochemicals (fertilizer and
pesticides) industries have now been almost entirely integrated,
thanks to the takeover of the former by the latter. They are now 
30  selling packages of seeds and chemicals which cannot be
separated from one another.
This is where one of the paramount dangers of the misuse of
biotechnology comes into play. While the new techniques facilitate
the 'manufacturing' of either pest-resistant or pesticide-resistant 
35  seeds, perhaps with equal amount of resources (and thus
compatible with excessive use of chemicals), it is almost certain
that the scientists will breed the latter variety.
Now, try to fathom what the infiltration of the third-world by these
miracle seeds will do. The lure of their super-high yields will not 
40  decrease (as it theoretically could) but increase (because it suits
the MNCs) agrochemicals use. Third-world agriculture will be
simultaneously "chemicalized" and "biologized" in a way that was
unimaginable even at the height of the green revolution euphoria.
The probable picture is one of abject dependence of the third world
45  peasants upon the seeds- agrochemical MNCs. Capital will
have penetrated into the deepest interstices of rural society, right
down to the very structures of life and life-support systems in a
manner quite different from what we may have seen in the past.
The third�world will not be able to compete; it will have to accept 
50  its fate of complete ascendancy by the first world. There is
every possibility that the only thing that the third world managed
to hold on to during the colonial era, even the limited bargaining
and autonomous space in respect of primary commodities will be
quickly wiped out.
55  Is there any option or even a semblance of hope for the third
world? Can the third world escape the second colonization? Can't
millions of people can be spared the prospect of being
economically and culturally liquidated? Is it preordained that they
shall be wiped out as peasants without even having the option to 
60  become workers and wage laborers in an industrializing
economy? Shouldn't the people of these countries be at least
allowed to dream of a normal living?
These are questions that are difficult to answer. Nevertheless, one
thing is clear. The view, easily accepted by liberals at the turn of 
65  the century, that the liquidation of the peasantry and
destruction of old modes of production would inevitably lead to
industrialization, growth and development which, in the long run,
would benefit all, is impossible to sustain when one is dealing with
as powerful and far-reaching a phenomenon as biotechnology. In 
70  all likelihood, biotechnology will not only permit the
penetration and domination by multinational capital of the third
world agriculture; it will make any break into industry or any other
economic activity almost impossible.

The recent advancements in biotechnology include all the following EXCEPT:

gene splitting and splicing

cloning of different varieties of genes

gene replications and mutations

production of newer organisms

grafting genes onto another organisms

Please provide appropriate updations

Ques

Your Name
Please describe the changes made by you

This Question is based on the following passage:

  The passage elucidates the parameters of artistic excellence. 

The prestige of a masterpiece, in the most curious way,
dominates the degree of appreciation and understanding of
music. Theater, cinema, poetry, narrative fiction, none pay
allegiance to its ideal of excellence in the tyrannical way that 
5  music does. They recognize no unbridgeable chasm
between 'great works' and lesser efforts. Consider the world
of painting; even though it also is a victim of "appreciation"
rackets based on the concept of gilt-edged equality, it still is
more penetrable to reason in this regard. But music today 
10  seems committed to the idea that superlative work in
composition is separable from the rest of the music-writing
by a distinction as radical as that recognized in theology
between the elect and the damned. 
This pretentious definition of excellence is disparate from the 
15  classical concept of a republic of letters. It reclines,
rather, on the theocratic ideas that inspiration is less a
privilege of the private citizen than of the ordained sibyl. The
concept however, loses its ground due to the fact that music
is not a religion. Dealing in general ideas, morality or 
20  salvation does not come within the precincts of music. It
is an art. It expresses private sentiments through skill and
sincerity, both of which are a privilege, a duty of the private
citizen, and no monopoly of the prophetically inclined. 
"Masterpiece", was once considered to be merely a 
25  graduation piece which hailed the student advance from
apprenticeship to master status. Later, it referred to any
artist's most accomplished work, the highpoint of production.
Today, most people comprehend it as a piece differing from
the run of the repertory by a degree of concentration in its 
30  expressivity that establishes a difference of kind. The idea
that any composer, however gifted or skillful, is merely a
masterpiece factory would have been repellant to Bach or
Hadyn or Mozart or Handel. But all the successors of
Beethoven who aspired to his positions quite consciously 
35  imbued their music with the "masterpiece" tone. This
tone is lugubrious, portentous, and world-shaking; and
length, as well as heavy instrumentation, is essential to it.
The masterpiece cult tends to substitute an impressive
manner for specific expression, just as an oratory does. That 
40  music should stoop to the procedures and techniques of
contemporary political harangue is lamentable.
There are occasions (funerals for instance) where the tone of
a discourse is more important than its content, but the concert
is not one of them. The concert is habitual thing like a meal; 
45  the ceremonial is only incidental to it. And restricting
one's menu to what observes the fictitious "masterpiece"
tone is like limiting one's nourishment only to heavier party
foods. If the idea can be got rid of that a proper concert
should consist of only "masterpieces", either historic or 
50  contemporary, our programs will cease to be repetitive
and monotonous.

10.

The primary purpose of the passage is to:

expound the history of musical masterpieces

exemplify the process of creation of musical masterpiece

reveal the fallacy inherent in the current attitude towards musical masterpieces

set new benchmarks for composers to follow

render Beethoven's symphony as the epitome of musical masterpiece

Please provide appropriate updations

Ques

Your Name
Please describe the changes made by you

This Question is based on the following passage:

  The passage elucidates the parameters of artistic excellence. 

The prestige of a masterpiece, in the most curious way,
dominates the degree of appreciation and understanding of
music. Theater, cinema, poetry, narrative fiction, none pay
allegiance to its ideal of excellence in the tyrannical way that 
5  music does. They recognize no unbridgeable chasm
between 'great works' and lesser efforts. Consider the world
of painting; even though it also is a victim of "appreciation"
rackets based on the concept of gilt-edged equality, it still is
more penetrable to reason in this regard. But music today 
10  seems committed to the idea that superlative work in
composition is separable from the rest of the music-writing
by a distinction as radical as that recognized in theology
between the elect and the damned. 
This pretentious definition of excellence is disparate from the 
15  classical concept of a republic of letters. It reclines,
rather, on the theocratic ideas that inspiration is less a
privilege of the private citizen than of the ordained sibyl. The
concept however, loses its ground due to the fact that music
is not a religion. Dealing in general ideas, morality or 
20  salvation does not come within the precincts of music. It
is an art. It expresses private sentiments through skill and
sincerity, both of which are a privilege, a duty of the private
citizen, and no monopoly of the prophetically inclined. 
"Masterpiece", was once considered to be merely a 
25  graduation piece which hailed the student advance from
apprenticeship to master status. Later, it referred to any
artist's most accomplished work, the highpoint of production.
Today, most people comprehend it as a piece differing from
the run of the repertory by a degree of concentration in its 
30  expressivity that establishes a difference of kind. The idea
that any composer, however gifted or skillful, is merely a
masterpiece factory would have been repellant to Bach or
Hadyn or Mozart or Handel. But all the successors of
Beethoven who aspired to his positions quite consciously 
35  imbued their music with the "masterpiece" tone. This
tone is lugubrious, portentous, and world-shaking; and
length, as well as heavy instrumentation, is essential to it.
The masterpiece cult tends to substitute an impressive
manner for specific expression, just as an oratory does. That 
40  music should stoop to the procedures and techniques of
contemporary political harangue is lamentable.
There are occasions (funerals for instance) where the tone of
a discourse is more important than its content, but the concert
is not one of them. The concert is habitual thing like a meal; 
45  the ceremonial is only incidental to it. And restricting
one's menu to what observes the fictitious "masterpiece"
tone is like limiting one's nourishment only to heavier party
foods. If the idea can be got rid of that a proper concert
should consist of only "masterpieces", either historic or 
50  contemporary, our programs will cease to be repetitive
and monotonous.

11.

It can be inferred that the major difference between earlier and current conceptions of a musical masterpiece is that formerly the production of a masterpiece:

was abundant and recurring

was not viewed as an accomplishment

required an impressive style

was not viewed by major composers as being necessary

required enthusiastic popular support

Please provide appropriate updations

Ques

Your Name
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This Question is based on the following passage:

  The author discusses the developmental challenges faced in the rapidly changing global scenario.

The challenge of development in an extensive sense is to
enhance the quality of life, especially in the world's poor
countries. A better quality of life usually calls for higher
incomes but it involves much more. It incorporates a blend of 
5  better education, higher standards of health and nutrition,
poverty alleviation, a cleaner environment, more equality of
opportunity, greater individual freedom, and a richer cultural
life.
Precepts of development have undergone a paradigm shift 
10  during the past few decades. Progress has not moved along
a straight line from darkness to light. Instead, there have been
successes and failures, and a gradual accumulation of
knowledge and insight. On some matters, a fairly clear
understanding has emerged, but many questions still remain 
15  contentious and unanswered.
Climate, culture, and natural resources were once thought to be
the keys to economic development. Rapid industrialization,
using explicit and implicit taxes on agriculture to fund
industrial investment was for many years a much favored 
20  strategy. After the Great Depression and through the1960s,
most policy makers favored import substitution combined with
focus on infant industries. In its day, this view was endorsed,
and the strategy supported, by external aid and finance
agencies. 
25  These views have not stood the test of time. Now there is
clearer evidence, from both developing and industrial
countries, that it is better not to ask governments to manage
development in details. Discriminatory taxes on agriculture
have turned out to be taxes on development. Economic
isolation behind trade barriers has proved to be costly.
Retarding competition and interfering with prices, deliberately
or accidentally, have very often proved to be counter-
productive.
As the importance of openness and competition has been
realized, the conviction has grown that they are insufficient by
themselves. Investing in people, if done rightly, provides the
firmest foundation for lasting development. And therefore, the
economic role of government is larger than merely standing in
for markets if they fail to work right. In defining and protecting
rights, providing effective legal and judicial system, improving
the efficiency of the officials providing services of the
government, and protecting the environment, the state forms
the very core of development. Political and civil liberties are
not, contrary to a once popular view, inconsistent with
economic growth.

12.

It can be most reasonably concluded from the passage that the author believes that development is:

directly proportional to the level of income in any economy

and must remain a prerogative of the government as only government is accountable for social welfare

only possible when imports are minimized and the focus is shifted to small scale industries

concomitant only with rapid industrialization

much more comprehensive than poverty alleviation

Please provide appropriate updations

Ques

Your Name
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By: Chloe on Dec 24, 2008

it isnt that fun to be honest i didnt have a clue what it was on about

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