Admission Test Section One : Verbal - GRE-Verbal FREE EXAM DUMPS QUESTIONS & ANSWERS

In classical literature, love was depicted not as an ennobling passion but as an unfortunate _______ that
disabled judgment, almost a kind of _______.

"Old woman," grumbled the burly white man who had just heard Sojourner Truth speak, "do you think your
talk about slavery does any good? I don't care any more for your talk than I do for the bite of a flea." The
tall, imposing black woman turned her piercing eyes on him. "Perhaps not," she answered, "but I'll keep
you scratching." The little incident of the 1840s sums up all that Sojourner Truth was: utterly dedicated to
spreading her message, afraid of no one, forceful and witty in speech. Yet forty years earlier, who could
have suspected that a spindly slave girl growing up in a damp cellar in upstate New York would become
one of the most remarkable women in American history? Her name then was Isabella (many slaves had
no last names), and by the time she was fourteen she had seen both parents die of cold and hunger. She
herself had been sold several times. By 1827, when New York freed its slaves, she had married and
borne five children. The first hint of Isabella's fighting spirit came soon afterwards, when her youngest son
was illegally seized and sold. She marched to the courthouse and badgered officials until her son was
returned to her. In 1843, inspired by religion, she changed her name to Sojourner (meaning "one who
stays briefly") Truth, and, with only pennies in her purse, set out to preach against slavery. From New
England to Minnesota she trekked, gaining a reputation for her plain but powerful and moving words.
Incredibly, despite being black and female (only white males were expected to be public speakers), she
drew thousands to town halls, tents, and churches to hear her powerful, deep-voiced pleas on equality for
blacks-and for women. Often she had to face threatening hoodlums. Once she stood before armed bullies
and sang a hymn to them. Awed by her courage and her commanding presence, they sheepishly
retreated. During the Civil War she cared for homeless ex-slaves in Washington. President Lincoln invited
her to the White House to bestow praise on her. Later, she petitioned Congress to help former slaves get
land in the West. Even in her old age, she forced the city of Washington to integrate its trolley cars so that
black and white could ride together. Shortly before her death at eighty-six, she was asked what kept her
going. "I think of the great things," replied Sojourner.
Sojourner Truth was raised in a damp cellar in-

Societal progress usually comes about through (i)_______ and challenge- that is, when people point out
the mistakes of those who wield power; (ii)_______, without our challenging the mistaken notions of
established institutions, political (iii)_______ and tyranny would go unchecked.

MORBID : UNFAVORABLE

American history scholars generally attribute formation of the League of Indian Nations to Degandawida,
who convinced the warring and fiercely autonomous Iroquois nations to embrace his radical idea for a
league by tying it to familiar Iroquois customs and institutions. He associated the notion of peace and
partnership with the Iroquois custom by which the families of slain warriors adopted war prisoners into the
tribe. He invoked unquestioned social institutions as symbols, comparing the League to the traditional
Iroquois clan in which several families share a "Longhouse" and likening the Great Council, comprised of
representatives from each nation, to the Longhouse's ever-burning Council Fire. And he assigned to each
nation specific duties in order to assuage its fear of losing national identity. (For instance, he assigned to
the Onondagas, who were centrally positioned geographically, the role of perpetual hosts.) Perhaps most
persuasive, however, was how Degandawida's League replicated the power structure of the traditional
Iroquois clan. Each of the five Iroquois nations was comprised of matriarchal totemic clans in which the
chiefs were men, the clan heads were women, and the chief's children were considered members of his
wife's clan. Degandawida determined that the heads of each nation should select their League
representatives, thereby effectively precluding the possibility of League representatives passing their
power on to their sons, as well as decreasing the likelihood that a pro-war representative would be
appointed. Iroquois unification under the League lasted about two centuries, when disagreement as to
whether to become involved in the American Revolutionary war divided the Iroquois. The revolutionaries'
success and their subsequent encroachment upon Iroquois lands forced many Iroquois to resettle in
Canada, while those who remained behind lost respect from other Indian nations. The introduction of
distilled spirits led to widespread alcoholism and, in turn, to a rapid decline of the culture and population.
The Quakers' influence impeded, yet in another sense contributed, to this decline. By establishing schools
for the Iroquois and by introducing them to modern technology for agriculture and husbandry, the Quakers
instilled some hope for the future yet undermined their sense of national identity. Ironically, it was the
alcoholic halfbrother of Seneca, Cornplanter, the most outspoken proponent among the Iroquois for
assimilation of white customs and institutions, who revived the Iroquois culture. Around 1800, Handsome
Lake, a former member of the Great Council, established a new religion among the Iroquois that tied the
more useful aspects of Christianity to traditional Indian beliefs and customs. Lake's teachings quickly
became firmly entrenched among the Iroquois, sparking reunification and renewed confidence while also
curbing rampant alcoholism. Lake's influence is still evident today: many modern- day Iroquois belong
both to his religion and to one or another Christian sect Assuming that the reasons asserted in the
passage for the decline of the Iroquois culture are historically representative of the decline of cultural
minorities, which of the following developments would most likely contribute to the demise of a modern-
day ethnic minority?

Marie Curie was one of the most accomplished scientists in history. Together with her husband, Pierre,
she discovered radium, an element widely used for treating cancer, and studied uranium and other
radioactive substances. Pierre and Marie's amicable collaboration later helped to unlock the secrets of the
atom. Marie was born in 1867 in Warsaw, Poland, where her father was a professor of physics. At the
early age, she displayed a brilliant mind and a blithe personality. Her great exuberance for learning
prompted her to continue with her studies after high school. She became disgruntled, however, when she
learned that the university in Warsaw was closed to women.
Determined to receive a higher education, she defiantly left Poland and in 1891 entered the Sorbonne, a
French university, where she earned her master's degree and doctorate in physics. Marie was fortunate to
have studied at the Sorbonne with some of the greatest scientists of her day, one of whom was Pierre
Curie. Marie and Pierre were married in
1 895 and spent many productive years working together in the physics laboratory. A short time after they
discovered radium, Pierre was killed by a horse-drawn wagon in 1906. Marie was stunned by this horrible
misfortune and endured heartbreaking anguish. espondently she recalled their close relationship and the
joy that they had shared in scientific research. The fact that she had two young daughters to raise by
herself greatly increased her distress. Curie's feeling of desolation finally began to fade when she was
asked to succeed her husband as a physics professor at the Sorbonne. She was the first woman to be
given a professorship at the world-famous university. In 1911 she received the Nobel Prize in chemistry
for isolating radium. Although Marie Curie eventually suffered a fatal illness from her long exposure to
radium, she never became disillusioned about her work. Regardless of the consequences, she had
dedicated herself to science and to revealing the mysteries of the physical world.
When she learned that she could not attend the university in Warsaw, she felt___.

For absolute dating of archeological artifacts, the radiocarbon method emerged during the latter half of
the twentieth century as the most reliable and precise method. The results of obsidian (volcanic glass)
dating, a method based on the belief that newly exposed obsidian surfaces absorb moisture from the
surrounding atmosphere at a constant rate, proved uneven. It was initially thought that the thickness of
the hydration layer would provide a means of calculating the time elapsed since the fresh surface was
made. But this method failed to account for the chemical variability in the physical and chemical
mechanism of obsidian hydration. Moreover, each geographic source presented unique chemical
characteristics, necessitating a trace element analysis for each such source. Yet despite its limitations,
obsidian dating helped archeologists identify the sources of many obsidian artifacts, and to identify in turn
ancient exchange networks for the flow of goods. Nor were ceramic studies and fluoride analysis
supplanted entirely by the radiocarbon method, which in use allows for field labeling and laboratory errors,
as well as sample contamination. In addition, in the 1970s, dendrochronological (tree-ring) studies on the
bristlecone pine showed that deviation from radiocarbon values increases as one moves back in time.
Eventually calibration curves were developed to account for this phenomenon; but in the archeological
literature we still find dual references to radiocarbon and sidereal, or calendar, time.
The author would probably consider which of the following the LEAST likely means of dating
archeological artifacts?

The author's overall concern is with describing the process researchers are following to identify the genes
responsible for preventing cell death and with the direction (and goals) of current research based on their
findings. Of the five choices, choice B. best expresses the gist of the discussion. enterprise was prepared
for privatization and which form was most suitable for it. Slow privatization, some claim, is the only way to
establish true private ownership, because only those who must pay for enterprise-ownership rights will be
engaged in its management. But this method would only prolong the core problems of inefficiency and
misallocation of labor and capital, and hence either of two approaches to rapid privatization is preferable.
Under one such approach, shares of an enterprise would be distributed among its employees, who would
become its owners. This socialist reform method is deeply flawed; it discriminates in favor of workers who
happen to be employed by modern, efficient enterprises, and it jeopardizes workers' property by requiring
them to invest in the same enterprise in which they are employed, rather than diversifying their
investments. The better approach involves distribution of enterprise shares, free of charge, among all the
people by means of vouchers-a kind of investment money. Some critics charge that voucher holders
would not be interested in how their enterprises are managed-as may be true of small corporate
shareholders in capitalist countries who pay little attention to their investments until the corporation's
profits wane, at which time they rush to sell their securities. But while the resulting fall in stock prices can
be perilous for the corporation, this very pressure is what drives private firms toward efficiency and
profitability. Other detractors predict that most people will sell their vouchers to foreign capitalists.
However, these skeptics ignore the capacity of individuals to compare the future flow of income secured
by a voucher to the benefits of immediate consumption. Moreover, even if an individual should decide to
sell, the aim of voucher privatization is to secure equality not of property but of opportunity.
In responding to "skeptics" who claim that people will sell their vouchers to foreign capitalists (lines 70-77),
the author implies that

EXACERBATE:

Americans have always been interested in their Presidents' wives. Many First Ladies have been
remembered because of the ways they have influenced their husbands. Other First Ladies have made the
history books on their own. At least two First Ladies, Bess Truman and Lady Bird Johnson, made it their
business to send signals during their husbands' speeches. When Lady Bird Johnson thought her husband
was talking too long, she wrote a note and sent it up to the platform. It read, "It's time to stop!" And he did.
Once Bess Truman didn't like what her husband was saying on television, so she phoned him and said," If
you can't talk more politely than that in public, you come right home." Abigail Fillmore and Eliza Johnson
actually taught their husbands, Millard Fillmore and Andrew Johnson, the thirteenth and seventeenth
Presidents. A schoolteacher, Abigail eventually married her pupil, Millard. When Eliza Johnson married
Andrew, he could not read or write, so she taught him herself. It was First Lady Helen Taft's idea to plant
the famous cherry trees in Washington, D. C. Each spring these blossoming trees attract thousands of
visitors to the nation's capital. Mrs. Taft also influenced the male members of her family and the White
House staff in a strange way: she convinced them to shave off their beards! Shortly after President Wilson
suffered a stroke, Edith Wilson unofficially took over most of the duties of the Presidency until the end of
her husband's term. Earlier, during World War I, Mrs. Wilson had had sheep brought onto the White
House lawn to eat the grass. The sheep not only kept the lawn mowed but provided wool for an auction
sponsored by the First Lady. Almost $100,000 was raised for the Red Cross. Dolly
Madison saw to it that a magnificent painting of George Washington was not destroyed during the War of
1 812. As the British marched toward Washington, D. C., she remained behind to rescue the painting,
even after the guards had left. The painting is the only object from the original White House that was not
burned. One of the most famous First Ladies was Eleanor Roosevelt, the wife of President Franklin D.
Roosevelt. She was active in political and social causes throughout her husband's tenure in office. After
his death, she became famous for her humanitarian work in the United Nations. She made life better for
thousands of needy people around the world.
What is the main idea of this passage?