Thi Thử VSTEP Đại Học Sư Phạm Reading Test 4 Part 1

PASSAGE 1 – Questions 1-10

As new industrialism swept over the land in the wake of the Civil War, people flocked to the nation's cities in unprecedented numbers from rural regions, villages, and foreign countries. Housing for the new city-dwellers took many forms as new architectural styles were developed.

During this period of urban expansion, speculative builders discovered a bonanzain the form of the row house. Designed for single-family occupancy, these dwellings cost relatively little to construct because they shared common walls with their neighbors and because many could be erected side by side on a narrow street frontage. Along New York's gridiron of streets and avenues rose block after block of row houses, which, by the 1880s, werealmost invariablyfaced with brownstone. In contrast, wooden row houses on the West Coast appeared light and airy with their coats of bright paint. San Francisco developed a particularly successful row vernacular, suitable for rich and poor alike, as typified by clusters of homes like the Rountree group, which featured Queen Anne elements in their pitched roofs and heavily decorated exteriors. "Although critics likened the facades ofsuch structuresto the 'puffing, paint, and powder of our female friends'", the houses were efficiently planned, sanitary, and well-lighted. Virtually every dwellingboastedone or more bay windows, which were as important to sun-loving San Franciscans as brownstone fronts were to New Yorkers. As an English traveler observed, California architecture, "with all the windows gracefully leaping out at themselves", should rightly be called the "bay-window order".

PASSAGE 1 – Questions 1-10

As new industrialism swept over the land in the wake of the Civil War, people flocked to the nation's cities in unprecedented numbers from rural regions, villages, and foreign countries. Housing for the new city-dwellers took many forms as new architectural styles were developed.

During this period of urban expansion, speculative builders discovered a bonanzain the form of the row house. Designed for single-family occupancy, these dwellings cost relatively little to construct because they shared common walls with their neighbors and because many could be erected side by side on a narrow street frontage. Along New York's gridiron of streets and avenues rose block after block of row houses, which, by the 1880s, werealmost invariablyfaced with brownstone. In contrast, wooden row houses on the West Coast appeared light and airy with their coats of bright paint. San Francisco developed a particularly successful row vernacular, suitable for rich and poor alike, as typified by clusters of homes like the Rountree group, which featured Queen Anne elements in their pitched roofs and heavily decorated exteriors. "Although critics likened the facades ofsuch structuresto the 'puffing, paint, and powder of our female friends'", the houses were efficiently planned, sanitary, and well-lighted. Virtually every dwellingboastedone or more bay windows, which were as important to sun-loving San Franciscans as brownstone fronts were to New Yorkers. As an English traveler observed, California architecture, "with all the windows gracefully leaping out at themselves", should rightly be called the "bay-window order".

PASSAGE 1 – Questions 1-10

As new industrialism swept over the land in the wake of the Civil War, people flocked to the nation's cities in unprecedented numbers from rural regions, villages, and foreign countries. Housing for the new city-dwellers took many forms as new architectural styles were developed.

During this period of urban expansion, speculative builders discovered a bonanzain the form of the row house. Designed for single-family occupancy, these dwellings cost relatively little to construct because they shared common walls with their neighbors and because many could be erected side by side on a narrow street frontage. Along New York's gridiron of streets and avenues rose block after block of row houses, which, by the 1880s, werealmost invariablyfaced with brownstone. In contrast, wooden row houses on the West Coast appeared light and airy with their coats of bright paint. San Francisco developed a particularly successful row vernacular, suitable for rich and poor alike, as typified by clusters of homes like the Rountree group, which featured Queen Anne elements in their pitched roofs and heavily decorated exteriors. "Although critics likened the facades ofsuch structuresto the 'puffing, paint, and powder of our female friends'", the houses were efficiently planned, sanitary, and well-lighted. Virtually every dwellingboastedone or more bay windows, which were as important to sun-loving San Franciscans as brownstone fronts were to New Yorkers. As an English traveler observed, California architecture, "with all the windows gracefully leaping out at themselves", should rightly be called the "bay-window order".

PASSAGE 1 – Questions 1-10

As new industrialism swept over the land in the wake of the Civil War, people flocked to the nation's cities in unprecedented numbers from rural regions, villages, and foreign countries. Housing for the new city-dwellers took many forms as new architectural styles were developed.

During this period of urban expansion, speculative builders discovered a bonanzain the form of the row house. Designed for single-family occupancy, these dwellings cost relatively little to construct because they shared common walls with their neighbors and because many could be erected side by side on a narrow street frontage. Along New York's gridiron of streets and avenues rose block after block of row houses, which, by the 1880s, werealmost invariablyfaced with brownstone. In contrast, wooden row houses on the West Coast appeared light and airy with their coats of bright paint. San Francisco developed a particularly successful row vernacular, suitable for rich and poor alike, as typified by clusters of homes like the Rountree group, which featured Queen Anne elements in their pitched roofs and heavily decorated exteriors. "Although critics likened the facades ofsuch structuresto the 'puffing, paint, and powder of our female friends'", the houses were efficiently planned, sanitary, and well-lighted. Virtually every dwellingboastedone or more bay windows, which were as important to sun-loving San Franciscans as brownstone fronts were to New Yorkers. As an English traveler observed, California architecture, "with all the windows gracefully leaping out at themselves", should rightly be called the "bay-window order".

PASSAGE 1 – Questions 1-10

As new industrialism swept over the land in the wake of the Civil War, people flocked to the nation's cities in unprecedented numbers from rural regions, villages, and foreign countries. Housing for the new city-dwellers took many forms as new architectural styles were developed.

During this period of urban expansion, speculative builders discovered a bonanzain the form of the row house. Designed for single-family occupancy, these dwellings cost relatively little to construct because they shared common walls with their neighbors and because many could be erected side by side on a narrow street frontage. Along New York's gridiron of streets and avenues rose block after block of row houses, which, by the 1880s, werealmost invariablyfaced with brownstone. In contrast, wooden row houses on the West Coast appeared light and airy with their coats of bright paint. San Francisco developed a particularly successful row vernacular, suitable for rich and poor alike, as typified by clusters of homes like the Rountree group, which featured Queen Anne elements in their pitched roofs and heavily decorated exteriors. "Although critics likened the facades ofsuch structuresto the 'puffing, paint, and powder of our female friends'", the houses were efficiently planned, sanitary, and well-lighted. Virtually every dwellingboastedone or more bay windows, which were as important to sun-loving San Franciscans as brownstone fronts were to New Yorkers. As an English traveler observed, California architecture, "with all the windows gracefully leaping out at themselves", should rightly be called the "bay-window order".

PASSAGE 1 – Questions 1-10

As new industrialism swept over the land in the wake of the Civil War, people flocked to the nation's cities in unprecedented numbers from rural regions, villages, and foreign countries. Housing for the new city-dwellers took many forms as new architectural styles were developed.

During this period of urban expansion, speculative builders discovered a bonanzain the form of the row house. Designed for single-family occupancy, these dwellings cost relatively little to construct because they shared common walls with their neighbors and because many could be erected side by side on a narrow street frontage. Along New York's gridiron of streets and avenues rose block after block of row houses, which, by the 1880s, werealmost invariablyfaced with brownstone. In contrast, wooden row houses on the West Coast appeared light and airy with their coats of bright paint. San Francisco developed a particularly successful row vernacular, suitable for rich and poor alike, as typified by clusters of homes like the Rountree group, which featured Queen Anne elements in their pitched roofs and heavily decorated exteriors. "Although critics likened the facades ofsuch structuresto the 'puffing, paint, and powder of our female friends'", the houses were efficiently planned, sanitary, and well-lighted. Virtually every dwellingboastedone or more bay windows, which were as important to sun-loving San Franciscans as brownstone fronts were to New Yorkers. As an English traveler observed, California architecture, "with all the windows gracefully leaping out at themselves", should rightly be called the "bay-window order".

PASSAGE 1 – Questions 1-10

As new industrialism swept over the land in the wake of the Civil War, people flocked to the nation's cities in unprecedented numbers from rural regions, villages, and foreign countries. Housing for the new city-dwellers took many forms as new architectural styles were developed.

During this period of urban expansion, speculative builders discovered a bonanzain the form of the row house. Designed for single-family occupancy, these dwellings cost relatively little to construct because they shared common walls with their neighbors and because many could be erected side by side on a narrow street frontage. Along New York's gridiron of streets and avenues rose block after block of row houses, which, by the 1880s, werealmost invariablyfaced with brownstone. In contrast, wooden row houses on the West Coast appeared light and airy with their coats of bright paint. San Francisco developed a particularly successful row vernacular, suitable for rich and poor alike, as typified by clusters of homes like the Rountree group, which featured Queen Anne elements in their pitched roofs and heavily decorated exteriors. "Although critics likened the facades ofsuch structuresto the 'puffing, paint, and powder of our female friends'", the houses were efficiently planned, sanitary, and well-lighted. Virtually every dwellingboastedone or more bay windows, which were as important to sun-loving San Franciscans as brownstone fronts were to New Yorkers. As an English traveler observed, California architecture, "with all the windows gracefully leaping out at themselves", should rightly be called the "bay-window order".

PASSAGE 1 – Questions 1-10

As new industrialism swept over the land in the wake of the Civil War, people flocked to the nation's cities in unprecedented numbers from rural regions, villages, and foreign countries. Housing for the new city-dwellers took many forms as new architectural styles were developed.

During this period of urban expansion, speculative builders discovered a bonanzain the form of the row house. Designed for single-family occupancy, these dwellings cost relatively little to construct because they shared common walls with their neighbors and because many could be erected side by side on a narrow street frontage. Along New York's gridiron of streets and avenues rose block after block of row houses, which, by the 1880s, werealmost invariablyfaced with brownstone. In contrast, wooden row houses on the West Coast appeared light and airy with their coats of bright paint. San Francisco developed a particularly successful row vernacular, suitable for rich and poor alike, as typified by clusters of homes like the Rountree group, which featured Queen Anne elements in their pitched roofs and heavily decorated exteriors. "Although critics likened the facades ofsuch structuresto the 'puffing, paint, and powder of our female friends'", the houses were efficiently planned, sanitary, and well-lighted. Virtually every dwellingboastedone or more bay windows, which were as important to sun-loving San Franciscans as brownstone fronts were to New Yorkers. As an English traveler observed, California architecture, "with all the windows gracefully leaping out at themselves", should rightly be called the "bay-window order".

PASSAGE 1 – Questions 1-10

As new industrialism swept over the land in the wake of the Civil War, people flocked to the nation's cities in unprecedented numbers from rural regions, villages, and foreign countries. Housing for the new city-dwellers took many forms as new architectural styles were developed.

During this period of urban expansion, speculative builders discovered a bonanzain the form of the row house. Designed for single-family occupancy, these dwellings cost relatively little to construct because they shared common walls with their neighbors and because many could be erected side by side on a narrow street frontage. Along New York's gridiron of streets and avenues rose block after block of row houses, which, by the 1880s, werealmost invariablyfaced with brownstone. In contrast, wooden row houses on the West Coast appeared light and airy with their coats of bright paint. San Francisco developed a particularly successful row vernacular, suitable for rich and poor alike, as typified by clusters of homes like the Rountree group, which featured Queen Anne elements in their pitched roofs and heavily decorated exteriors. "Although critics likened the facades ofsuch structuresto the 'puffing, paint, and powder of our female friends'", the houses were efficiently planned, sanitary, and well-lighted. Virtually every dwellingboastedone or more bay windows, which were as important to sun-loving San Franciscans as brownstone fronts were to New Yorkers. As an English traveler observed, California architecture, "with all the windows gracefully leaping out at themselves", should rightly be called the "bay-window order".

PASSAGE 1 – Questions 1-10

As new industrialism swept over the land in the wake of the Civil War, people flocked to the nation's cities in unprecedented numbers from rural regions, villages, and foreign countries. Housing for the new city-dwellers took many forms as new architectural styles were developed.

During this period of urban expansion, speculative builders discovered a bonanzain the form of the row house. Designed for single-family occupancy, these dwellings cost relatively little to construct because they shared common walls with their neighbors and because many could be erected side by side on a narrow street frontage. Along New York's gridiron of streets and avenues rose block after block of row houses, which, by the 1880s, werealmost invariablyfaced with brownstone. In contrast, wooden row houses on the West Coast appeared light and airy with their coats of bright paint. San Francisco developed a particularly successful row vernacular, suitable for rich and poor alike, as typified by clusters of homes like the Rountree group, which featured Queen Anne elements in their pitched roofs and heavily decorated exteriors. "Although critics likened the facades ofsuch structuresto the 'puffing, paint, and powder of our female friends'", the houses were efficiently planned, sanitary, and well-lighted. Virtually every dwellingboastedone or more bay windows, which were as important to sun-loving San Franciscans as brownstone fronts were to New Yorkers. As an English traveler observed, California architecture, "with all the windows gracefully leaping out at themselves", should rightly be called the "bay-window order".

PASSAGE 2 – Questions 11-20

Since water is the basis of life, composing thegreaterpart of the tissues of all living things, the crucial problem of desert animals is to survive in a world where sources of flowing water are rare. And since man's inexorable necessity is to absorb large quantities of water at frequent intervals, he can scarcely comprehend that many creatures of the desert pass their entire lives without a single drop. Uncompromising as it is, the desert has not eliminated life but only those forms unable to withstand itsdesiccatingeffects. No moist-skinned, water-loving animals can exist there. Few large animals are found: the giants of the North American desert are the deer, the coyote, and the bobcat. Since desert country is open, it holds more swift-footed, running, and leaping creatures than the tangled forest. Its population is largely nocturnal, silent, filled with reticence, and ruled by stealth. Yet they are notemaciated. Having adapted to their austere environment, they are as healthy as animals anywhere in the world.

The secret of their adjustment lies in a combination of behavior and physiology. None could survive if, like mad dogs and Englishmen, they went out in the midday sun; many would die in a matter of minutes. So most of them pass the burning hours asleep in cool, humid burrows underneath the ground, emerging to hunt only by night. The surface of the sun-baked desert averages around 150 degrees, but 18 inches down the temperature is only 60 degrees.

An example of a desert animal that has adapted to subterranean living and lack of water is the kangaroo rat. Like many desert animals, kangaroo rats stay underground during the day. At night, they go outside to look for food. As evening temperatures drop, moisture from the air forms on plants and seeds.Theyabsorb some of this moisture and kangaroo rats take in the life-giving water as they eat.

PASSAGE 2 – Questions 11-20

Since water is the basis of life, composing thegreaterpart of the tissues of all living things, the crucial problem of desert animals is to survive in a world where sources of flowing water are rare. And since man's inexorable necessity is to absorb large quantities of water at frequent intervals, he can scarcely comprehend that many creatures of the desert pass their entire lives without a single drop. Uncompromising as it is, the desert has not eliminated life but only those forms unable to withstand itsdesiccatingeffects. No moist-skinned, water-loving animals can exist there. Few large animals are found: the giants of the North American desert are the deer, the coyote, and the bobcat. Since desert country is open, it holds more swift-footed, running, and leaping creatures than the tangled forest. Its population is largely nocturnal, silent, filled with reticence, and ruled by stealth. Yet they are notemaciated. Having adapted to their austere environment, they are as healthy as animals anywhere in the world.

The secret of their adjustment lies in a combination of behavior and physiology. None could survive if, like mad dogs and Englishmen, they went out in the midday sun; many would die in a matter of minutes. So most of them pass the burning hours asleep in cool, humid burrows underneath the ground, emerging to hunt only by night. The surface of the sun-baked desert averages around 150 degrees, but 18 inches down the temperature is only 60 degrees.

An example of a desert animal that has adapted to subterranean living and lack of water is the kangaroo rat. Like many desert animals, kangaroo rats stay underground during the day. At night, they go outside to look for food. As evening temperatures drop, moisture from the air forms on plants and seeds.Theyabsorb some of this moisture and kangaroo rats take in the life-giving water as they eat.

PASSAGE 2 – Questions 11-20

Since water is the basis of life, composing thegreaterpart of the tissues of all living things, the crucial problem of desert animals is to survive in a world where sources of flowing water are rare. And since man's inexorable necessity is to absorb large quantities of water at frequent intervals, he can scarcely comprehend that many creatures of the desert pass their entire lives without a single drop. Uncompromising as it is, the desert has not eliminated life but only those forms unable to withstand itsdesiccatingeffects. No moist-skinned, water-loving animals can exist there. Few large animals are found: the giants of the North American desert are the deer, the coyote, and the bobcat. Since desert country is open, it holds more swift-footed, running, and leaping creatures than the tangled forest. Its population is largely nocturnal, silent, filled with reticence, and ruled by stealth. Yet they are notemaciated. Having adapted to their austere environment, they are as healthy as animals anywhere in the world.

The secret of their adjustment lies in a combination of behavior and physiology. None could survive if, like mad dogs and Englishmen, they went out in the midday sun; many would die in a matter of minutes. So most of them pass the burning hours asleep in cool, humid burrows underneath the ground, emerging to hunt only by night. The surface of the sun-baked desert averages around 150 degrees, but 18 inches down the temperature is only 60 degrees.

An example of a desert animal that has adapted to subterranean living and lack of water is the kangaroo rat. Like many desert animals, kangaroo rats stay underground during the day. At night, they go outside to look for food. As evening temperatures drop, moisture from the air forms on plants and seeds.Theyabsorb some of this moisture and kangaroo rats take in the life-giving water as they eat.

PASSAGE 2 – Questions 11-20

Since water is the basis of life, composing thegreaterpart of the tissues of all living things, the crucial problem of desert animals is to survive in a world where sources of flowing water are rare. And since man's inexorable necessity is to absorb large quantities of water at frequent intervals, he can scarcely comprehend that many creatures of the desert pass their entire lives without a single drop. Uncompromising as it is, the desert has not eliminated life but only those forms unable to withstand itsdesiccatingeffects. No moist-skinned, water-loving animals can exist there. Few large animals are found: the giants of the North American desert are the deer, the coyote, and the bobcat. Since desert country is open, it holds more swift-footed, running, and leaping creatures than the tangled forest. Its population is largely nocturnal, silent, filled with reticence, and ruled by stealth. Yet they are notemaciated. Having adapted to their austere environment, they are as healthy as animals anywhere in the world.

The secret of their adjustment lies in a combination of behavior and physiology. None could survive if, like mad dogs and Englishmen, they went out in the midday sun; many would die in a matter of minutes. So most of them pass the burning hours asleep in cool, humid burrows underneath the ground, emerging to hunt only by night. The surface of the sun-baked desert averages around 150 degrees, but 18 inches down the temperature is only 60 degrees.

An example of a desert animal that has adapted to subterranean living and lack of water is the kangaroo rat. Like many desert animals, kangaroo rats stay underground during the day. At night, they go outside to look for food. As evening temperatures drop, moisture from the air forms on plants and seeds.Theyabsorb some of this moisture and kangaroo rats take in the life-giving water as they eat.

PASSAGE 2 – Questions 11-20

Since water is the basis of life, composing thegreaterpart of the tissues of all living things, the crucial problem of desert animals is to survive in a world where sources of flowing water are rare. And since man's inexorable necessity is to absorb large quantities of water at frequent intervals, he can scarcely comprehend that many creatures of the desert pass their entire lives without a single drop. Uncompromising as it is, the desert has not eliminated life but only those forms unable to withstand itsdesiccatingeffects. No moist-skinned, water-loving animals can exist there. Few large animals are found: the giants of the North American desert are the deer, the coyote, and the bobcat. Since desert country is open, it holds more swift-footed, running, and leaping creatures than the tangled forest. Its population is largely nocturnal, silent, filled with reticence, and ruled by stealth. Yet they are notemaciated. Having adapted to their austere environment, they are as healthy as animals anywhere in the world.

The secret of their adjustment lies in a combination of behavior and physiology. None could survive if, like mad dogs and Englishmen, they went out in the midday sun; many would die in a matter of minutes. So most of them pass the burning hours asleep in cool, humid burrows underneath the ground, emerging to hunt only by night. The surface of the sun-baked desert averages around 150 degrees, but 18 inches down the temperature is only 60 degrees.

An example of a desert animal that has adapted to subterranean living and lack of water is the kangaroo rat. Like many desert animals, kangaroo rats stay underground during the day. At night, they go outside to look for food. As evening temperatures drop, moisture from the air forms on plants and seeds.Theyabsorb some of this moisture and kangaroo rats take in the life-giving water as they eat.

PASSAGE 2 – Questions 11-20

Since water is the basis of life, composing thegreaterpart of the tissues of all living things, the crucial problem of desert animals is to survive in a world where sources of flowing water are rare. And since man's inexorable necessity is to absorb large quantities of water at frequent intervals, he can scarcely comprehend that many creatures of the desert pass their entire lives without a single drop. Uncompromising as it is, the desert has not eliminated life but only those forms unable to withstand itsdesiccatingeffects. No moist-skinned, water-loving animals can exist there. Few large animals are found: the giants of the North American desert are the deer, the coyote, and the bobcat. Since desert country is open, it holds more swift-footed, running, and leaping creatures than the tangled forest. Its population is largely nocturnal, silent, filled with reticence, and ruled by stealth. Yet they are notemaciated. Having adapted to their austere environment, they are as healthy as animals anywhere in the world.

The secret of their adjustment lies in a combination of behavior and physiology. None could survive if, like mad dogs and Englishmen, they went out in the midday sun; many would die in a matter of minutes. So most of them pass the burning hours asleep in cool, humid burrows underneath the ground, emerging to hunt only by night. The surface of the sun-baked desert averages around 150 degrees, but 18 inches down the temperature is only 60 degrees.

An example of a desert animal that has adapted to subterranean living and lack of water is the kangaroo rat. Like many desert animals, kangaroo rats stay underground during the day. At night, they go outside to look for food. As evening temperatures drop, moisture from the air forms on plants and seeds.Theyabsorb some of this moisture and kangaroo rats take in the life-giving water as they eat.

PASSAGE 2 – Questions 11-20

Since water is the basis of life, composing thegreaterpart of the tissues of all living things, the crucial problem of desert animals is to survive in a world where sources of flowing water are rare. And since man's inexorable necessity is to absorb large quantities of water at frequent intervals, he can scarcely comprehend that many creatures of the desert pass their entire lives without a single drop. Uncompromising as it is, the desert has not eliminated life but only those forms unable to withstand itsdesiccatingeffects. No moist-skinned, water-loving animals can exist there. Few large animals are found: the giants of the North American desert are the deer, the coyote, and the bobcat. Since desert country is open, it holds more swift-footed, running, and leaping creatures than the tangled forest. Its population is largely nocturnal, silent, filled with reticence, and ruled by stealth. Yet they are notemaciated. Having adapted to their austere environment, they are as healthy as animals anywhere in the world.

The secret of their adjustment lies in a combination of behavior and physiology. None could survive if, like mad dogs and Englishmen, they went out in the midday sun; many would die in a matter of minutes. So most of them pass the burning hours asleep in cool, humid burrows underneath the ground, emerging to hunt only by night. The surface of the sun-baked desert averages around 150 degrees, but 18 inches down the temperature is only 60 degrees.

An example of a desert animal that has adapted to subterranean living and lack of water is the kangaroo rat. Like many desert animals, kangaroo rats stay underground during the day. At night, they go outside to look for food. As evening temperatures drop, moisture from the air forms on plants and seeds.Theyabsorb some of this moisture and kangaroo rats take in the life-giving water as they eat.

PASSAGE 2 – Questions 11-20

Since water is the basis of life, composing thegreaterpart of the tissues of all living things, the crucial problem of desert animals is to survive in a world where sources of flowing water are rare. And since man's inexorable necessity is to absorb large quantities of water at frequent intervals, he can scarcely comprehend that many creatures of the desert pass their entire lives without a single drop. Uncompromising as it is, the desert has not eliminated life but only those forms unable to withstand itsdesiccatingeffects. No moist-skinned, water-loving animals can exist there. Few large animals are found: the giants of the North American desert are the deer, the coyote, and the bobcat. Since desert country is open, it holds more swift-footed, running, and leaping creatures than the tangled forest. Its population is largely nocturnal, silent, filled with reticence, and ruled by stealth. Yet they are notemaciated. Having adapted to their austere environment, they are as healthy as animals anywhere in the world.

The secret of their adjustment lies in a combination of behavior and physiology. None could survive if, like mad dogs and Englishmen, they went out in the midday sun; many would die in a matter of minutes. So most of them pass the burning hours asleep in cool, humid burrows underneath the ground, emerging to hunt only by night. The surface of the sun-baked desert averages around 150 degrees, but 18 inches down the temperature is only 60 degrees.

An example of a desert animal that has adapted to subterranean living and lack of water is the kangaroo rat. Like many desert animals, kangaroo rats stay underground during the day. At night, they go outside to look for food. As evening temperatures drop, moisture from the air forms on plants and seeds.Theyabsorb some of this moisture and kangaroo rats take in the life-giving water as they eat.

PASSAGE 2 – Questions 11-20

Since water is the basis of life, composing thegreaterpart of the tissues of all living things, the crucial problem of desert animals is to survive in a world where sources of flowing water are rare. And since man's inexorable necessity is to absorb large quantities of water at frequent intervals, he can scarcely comprehend that many creatures of the desert pass their entire lives without a single drop. Uncompromising as it is, the desert has not eliminated life but only those forms unable to withstand itsdesiccatingeffects. No moist-skinned, water-loving animals can exist there. Few large animals are found: the giants of the North American desert are the deer, the coyote, and the bobcat. Since desert country is open, it holds more swift-footed, running, and leaping creatures than the tangled forest. Its population is largely nocturnal, silent, filled with reticence, and ruled by stealth. Yet they are notemaciated. Having adapted to their austere environment, they are as healthy as animals anywhere in the world.

The secret of their adjustment lies in a combination of behavior and physiology. None could survive if, like mad dogs and Englishmen, they went out in the midday sun; many would die in a matter of minutes. So most of them pass the burning hours asleep in cool, humid burrows underneath the ground, emerging to hunt only by night. The surface of the sun-baked desert averages around 150 degrees, but 18 inches down the temperature is only 60 degrees.

An example of a desert animal that has adapted to subterranean living and lack of water is the kangaroo rat. Like many desert animals, kangaroo rats stay underground during the day. At night, they go outside to look for food. As evening temperatures drop, moisture from the air forms on plants and seeds.Theyabsorb some of this moisture and kangaroo rats take in the life-giving water as they eat.

PASSAGE 2 – Questions 11-20

Since water is the basis of life, composing thegreaterpart of the tissues of all living things, the crucial problem of desert animals is to survive in a world where sources of flowing water are rare. And since man's inexorable necessity is to absorb large quantities of water at frequent intervals, he can scarcely comprehend that many creatures of the desert pass their entire lives without a single drop. Uncompromising as it is, the desert has not eliminated life but only those forms unable to withstand itsdesiccatingeffects. No moist-skinned, water-loving animals can exist there. Few large animals are found: the giants of the North American desert are the deer, the coyote, and the bobcat. Since desert country is open, it holds more swift-footed, running, and leaping creatures than the tangled forest. Its population is largely nocturnal, silent, filled with reticence, and ruled by stealth. Yet they are notemaciated. Having adapted to their austere environment, they are as healthy as animals anywhere in the world.

The secret of their adjustment lies in a combination of behavior and physiology. None could survive if, like mad dogs and Englishmen, they went out in the midday sun; many would die in a matter of minutes. So most of them pass the burning hours asleep in cool, humid burrows underneath the ground, emerging to hunt only by night. The surface of the sun-baked desert averages around 150 degrees, but 18 inches down the temperature is only 60 degrees.

An example of a desert animal that has adapted to subterranean living and lack of water is the kangaroo rat. Like many desert animals, kangaroo rats stay underground during the day. At night, they go outside to look for food. As evening temperatures drop, moisture from the air forms on plants and seeds.Theyabsorb some of this moisture and kangaroo rats take in the life-giving water as they eat.