Free Test Prep PSAT Exam Questions

The storyteller’s __________ anecdotes earned her the __________ attention of the crowd. 

The main purpose of this story is to appeal to the reader’s interest in a subject which has been the theme of some of the greatest writers, living and dead – but which has never been, and can never be, exhausted, because it is a subject eternally interesting to all mankind. Here is one more book that depicts the struggle of a human creature, under those opposing influences of Good and Evil, which we have all felt, which we have all known. It has been my aim to make the character of “Magdalen,” which personifies this struggle, a pathetic character even in its perversity and its error; and I have tried hard to attain this result by the least obtrusive and the least artificial of all means – by a resolute adherence throughout to the truth as it is in Nature. This design was no easy one to accomplish; and it has been a great encouragement to me (during the publication of my story in its periodical form) to know, on the authority of many readers, that the object which I had proposed to myself, I might, in some degree, consider as an object achieved. Round the central figure in the narrative other characters will be found grouped, in sharp contrast – contrast, for the most part, in which I have endeavored to make the element of humor mainly predominant. I have sought to impart this relief to the more serious passages in the book, not only because I believe myself to be justified in doing so by the laws of Art – but because experience has taught me (what the experience of my readers will doubtless confirm) that there is no such moral phenomenon as unmixed tragedy to be found in the world around us. Look where we may, the dark threads and the light cross each other perpetually in the texture of human life. Which word best describes the meaning of “personifies” in 1st paragraph?

In his childhood, Paco had been a cheerful baby, but by his twenties had developed a surprisingly __________ temperament. 

Adapted from Volume Four of The Natural History of Animals: The Animal Life of the World in Its VariousAspects and Relations by James Richard Ainsworth Davis (1903)The examples of protective resemblance so far quoted are mostly permanent adaptations to one particular sortof surrounding. There are, however, numerous animals which possess the power of adjusting their color moreor less rapidly so as to harmonize with a changing environment.Some of the best known of these cases are found among those mammals and birds that inhabit countries moreor less covered with snow during a part of the year. A good instance is afforded by the Irish or variable hare,which is chiefly found in Ireland and Scotland. In summer, this looks very much like an ordinary hare, thoughrather grayer in tint and smaller in size, but in winter it becomes white with the exception of the black tips to theears. Investigations that have been made on the closely allied American hare seem to show that thephenomenon is due to the growth of new hairs of white hue.The common stoat is subject to similar color change in the northern parts of its range. In summer it is of abright reddish brown color with the exception of the under parts, which are yellowish white, and the end of thetail, which is black. But in winter, the entire coat, save only the tip of the tail, becomes white, and in thatconditions the animal is known as an ermine. A similar example is afforded by the weasel. The seasonalchange in the vegetarian Irish hare is purely of protective character, but in such an actively carnivorous creatureas a stoat or weasel, it is aggressive as well, rendering the animal inconspicuous to its prey.Why is the American hare mentioned in the passage?

One can only remain __________ before great evils for so long; inevitably, one must choose sides for or against horrible atrocities.