501 Critical Reading Questions

a. elusive.
b. questionable.
c. incoherent.
d. beneficial.
e. inventive.
230.
The author cites the example of a breakfast of a bagel with low-fat
cream cheese in order to
a. show that getting a nutritional breakfast can be fast and 
convenient.
b. demonstrate that carbohydrates are the ideal nutrient.
c. overturn the notion that a carbohydrate-based breakfast is 
necessarily healthy.
d. persuade readers that they should eat eggs and sausage for breakfast.
e. argue that Americans should greatly restrict their carbohydrate
intake.
501
Critical Reading Questions

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231.
The author of the passage would most likely agree with which
statement?
a. The federal government knowingly gave the public misleading
advice.
b. Soaring obesity rates are most certainly a result of low-fat diets.
c. Nutritionists should promote high-fat, protein diets like the
Atkin’s diet.
d. Scientists should investigate every fad diet with equal scrutiny.
e. There is no definitive evidence connecting dietary fat to heart 
disease.
232.
The tone of the last sentence of the passage (lines 65–67) is 
one of
a. optimism.
b. resolve.
c. indulgence.
d. irony.
e. revulsion.
Answers
168.
b. The passage states that daytime drowsiness, even during boring
activities (lines 1–2), is a sign that a person is not getting enough
sleep.
169.
a. This image connotes a state of working hard without adequate
rest.
170.
e. The passage claims that lack of sleep magnifies alcohol’s effects on the
body (lines 14–15) implying that it hampers a person’s ability to
function.
171.
d. The first paragraph of this short passage deals with the symptoms
of sleep deprivation and the second paragraph discusses the dan-
gers of not getting enough sleep. Choices b and e are too specific
to be the passage’s primary purpose. Choices a and c are not sup-
ported by the passage.
172.
d. Although he was a man of no formal scientific education (line 2),
Leeuwenhoek demonstrated, in his own words, a craving after
knowledge, which I notice resides in me more than in most other men
(lines 24–26), who was the first to describe microorganisms. The
phrase stumbled upon in choice a is too accidental to describe
Leeuwenhoek’s perseverance. The words proficient and entertain-
ment in choice c do not accurately describe Leeuwenhoek’s skill
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