Many great inventions are greeted with ridicule and disbelief. The invention of the airplane was no
exception. Although many people who heard about the first powered flight on December 17,1903, were
excited and impressed, others reacted with peals of laughter. The idea of flying an aircraft was repulsive
to some people. Such people called Wilbur and Orville Wright, the inventors of the first flying machine,
impulsive fools.
Negative reactions, however, did not stop the Wrights. Impelled by their desire to succeed, they continued
their experiments in aviation. Orville and Wilbur Wright had always had a compelling interest in
aeronautics and mechanics. As young boys they earned money by making and selling kites and
mechanical toys. Later, they designed a newspaper-folding machine, built a printing press, and operated
a bicycle-repair shop. In 1896, when they read about the death of Otto Lilienthal, the brother's interest in
flight grew into a compulsion. Lilienthal, a pioneer in hang-gliding, had controlled his gliders by shifting his
body in the desired direction. This idea was repellent to the Wright brothers, however, and they searched
for more efficient methods to control the balance of airborne vehicles. In 1900 and 1901, the Wrights
tested numerous gliders and developed control techniques. The brothers' inability to obtain enough lift
power for the gliders almost led them to abandon their efforts. After further study, the Wright brothers
concluded that the published tables of air pressure on curved surfaces must be wrong.
They set up a wind tunnel and began a series of experiments with model wings. Because of their efforts,
the old tables were repealed in time and replaced by the first reliable figures for air pressure on curved
surfaces. This work, in turn, made it possible for them to design a machine that would fly. In 1903 the
Wrights built their first airplane, which cost less than one thousand dollars. They even designed and built
their own source of propulsion- a lightweight gasoline engine. When they started the engine on December
1 7, the airplane pulsated wildly before taking off. The plane managed to stay aloft for twelve seconds,
however, and it flew one hundred twenty feet. By 1905 the Wrights had perfected the first airplane that
could turn, circle, and remain airborne for half an hour at a time. Others had flown in balloons or in hang
gliders, but the Wright brothers were the first to build a full-size machine that could fly under its own power.
As the contributors of one of the most outstanding engineering achievements in history, the Wright
brothers are accurately called the fathers of aviation.
The Wright's interest in flight grew into a ____.

• A. foolish thought
• B. financial empire
• C. need to act
• D. answer not in article
• E. plan

DUPLICITY:

• A. openness
• B. simplicity
• C. honesty
• D. decency
• E. innocence

BASKETBALL : HOOP

• A. baseball: bat
• B. pool: cue
• C. tennis: net
• D. hockey: puck
• E. croquet:wicket

Human cells are programmed to selfdestruct at the same rate at which they are generated. However, the
programs can malfunction, resulting either in excessive cell growth, which can lead to cancer, or
excessive cell destruction, which can lead to degenerative diseases. As for the latter, using a tool called
RNA interference, researchers can turn off the functions of genes individually and, by observing the
results, determine which genes influence the process of cell death. Geneticists have isolated more than
one hundred different human genes that prevent cells from self-destructing. However, these genes
operate interdependently toward this end; moreover, most such genes serve other functions as well,
including cell differentiation and proliferation. Scientists are just beginning to identify the gene groups that
play key roles in the prevention of cell death and to understand the intricacies of how these groups
function, not just as units but also together, in what appears to be a vast network. Building on this
knowledge, researchers hope to learn how to precisely manipulate the process of cell death in humans-a
crucial step toward the development of diagnostics and treatments that target the specific diseases
associated with out-of-control cell destruction.
The author's primary concern in the passage is to

• A. explain the methodology by which researchers are learning how to control cell death
• B. describe the process of cell death and regeneration in the human body
• C. provide hope that scientists will soon discover a cure for many degenerative diseases
• D. summarize the findings of recent scientific research on degenerative diseases
• E. propose a theory to account for the increasing variety of degenerative diseases in humans

While there will always be a need for social programs geared toward alleviating the poverty of individuals,
the community is perhaps the more relevant level for public policy intervention, especially in rural areas. It
has been recognized that social isolation within urban ghettos is a structural characteristic of urban
poverty, but rural poverty is marked by physical isolation as well. This uniqueness makes rural community
poverty particularly intractable, requiring policies that account for the cost of isolation. It is possible to
provide vocational training for individuals anywhere, but if there are no jobs within the community for
those individuals, the training is largely wasted. The current transition to a service-based economy and
deregulation in transportation (resulting in disproportionately higher transportation costs for relatively
isolated areas) have only exacerbated the growing social and economic distress in rural America,
underscoring the need to redefine poverty and redirect the focus of our funding agencies and
policy-makers in accordance with the new definition. What's needed is a more holistic view on an
aggregate level, where poverty is properly seen as a condition of the local social structure, with income
only one of the salient parameters.
Which of the following is LEAST likely to be the author's vocation, based solely on the information in the
passage?

• A. Public health official
• B. Demographer
• C. Economist
• D. Social activist
• E. Public policy analyst