501 Critical Reading Questions

Critical Reading Questions
(1)
(5)
(10)
(15)

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5
7.
All of the following are probably part of the collection of the
Computer Museum of America EXCEPT
a. adding machines.
b. old computers.
c. operation manuals for calculators.
d. card punch machines.
e. kitchen scales.
8.
In line 12, the author used the words sneered at to show
a. a negative image of accountants.
b. what accountants and bookkeepers looked like.
c. the negative reaction to the comptometer.
d. the precursor of the comptometer operator.
e. how fast accountants and bookkeepers could add.
9.
What term paper topic could probably be researched at the
Computer Museum of America?
a. Alexander Graham Bell’s contributions to American society
b. IBM’s contribution to the development of the modern 
computer
c. more than just paintings: the museums of California
d. the rise and fall of the comptometer operator
e. why video games are harmful to our nation’s youth
Questions 10–17 are based on the following passage.
The following selection explains the origins and development of the modern
shopping mall.
Today’s shopping mall has as its antecedents historical marketplaces,
such as Greek agoras, European piazzas, and Asian bazaars. The pur-
pose of these sites, as with the shopping mall, is both economic and
social. People go not only to buy and sell wares, but also to be seen,
catch up on news, and be part of the human drama. Both the market-
place and its descendant the mall might also contain restaurants,
banks, theaters, and professional offices.
The mall is also the product of the creation of suburbs. Although
villages outside of cities have existed since antiquity, it was the tech-
nological and transportation advances of the 19th century that gave
rise to a conscious exodus of the population away from crowded,
industrialized cities toward quieter, more rural towns. Since the sub-
urbs typically have no centralized marketplace, shopping centers or
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