Directions: The passage below is followed by a question based on its content.

Answer the question on

the basis of what is stated or implied in the passage.

These passages present two perspectives of the prairie, the grasslands that covered much of the central
plains of the United States during the nineteenth century.

Passage 1

We came upon the Prairie at sunset. It would be difficult to say why, or how – though it was possibly
from having heard and read so much about it – but the effect on me was disappointment. Towards the
setting sun, there lay stretched out before my view a vast expanse of level ground, unbroken (save by
one thin line of trees, which scarcely amounted to a scratch upon the great blank) until it met the
glowing sky, wherein it seemed to dip, mingling with its rich colors and mellowing in its distant blue.
There it lay, a tranquil sea or lake without water, if such a simile be admissible, with the day going down
upon it: a few birds wheeling here and there, solitude and silence reigning paramount around, but the
grass was not yet high; there were bare–black patches on the ground and the wild flowers that the eye
could see were poor and scanty. Great as the picture was, its very flatness and extent, which left nothing
to the imagination, tamed it down and cramped its interest. I felt little of that sense of freedom and
exhilaration that the open landscape of a Scottish moor, or even the rolling hills of our English
downlands, inspires. It was lonely and wild, but oppressive in its barren monotony. I felt that in
traversing the Prairies, I could never abandon myself to the scene, forgetful of all else, as I should
instinctively were heather moorland beneath my feet. On the Prairie I should often glance towards the
distant and frequently receding line of the horizon, and wish it gained and passed. It is not a scene to be
forgotten, but it is scarcely one, I think (at all events, as I saw it), to remember with much pleasure or to
covet the looking–on again, in after years.

Passage 2

In herding the cattle on horseback, we children came to know all the open prairie round about and
found it very beautiful. On the uplands, a short, light–green grass grew, intermixed with various resinous
weeds, while in the lowland grazing grounds luxuriant patches of blue joint, wild oats, and other tall
forage plants waved in the wind. Along the streams, cattails and tiger lilies nodded above thick mats of
wide–bladed marsh grass.
Almost without realizing it, I came to know the character of every weed, every flower, every living thing
big enough to be seen from the back of a horse. Nothing could be more generous, more joyous, than
these natural meadows in summer. The flash and ripple and glimmer of the tall sunflowers, the chirp
and gurgle of red–winged blackbirds swaying on the willow, the meadow larks piping from grassy bogs,
the peep of the prairie chick and the wailing call of plover on the flowery green slopes of the uplands
made it all an ecstatic world to me. It was a wide world with a big, big sky that gave alluring hints of the
still more glorious unknown wilderness beyond.
Sometimes we wandered away to the meadows along the creek, gathering bouquets of pinks, sweet
williams, tiger lilies, and lady's slippers. The sun flamed across the splendid serial waves of the grasses
and the perfumes of a hundred spicy plants rose in the shimmering midday air. At such times the mere
joy of living filled our hearts with wordless satisfaction.
On a long ridge to the north and west, the soil, too wet and cold to cultivate easily, remained for several
years. Scattered over these clay lands stood small wooded groves that we called "tow–heads." They
stood out like islands in the waving seas of grasses. Against these dark green masses, breakers of blue
joint radiantly rolled. To the east ran the river; plum trees and crab apples bloomed along its banks. In
June, immense crops of wild strawberries appeared in the natural meadows. Their delicious odor rose to
us as we rode our way, tempting us to dismount.
On the bare upland ridges lay huge antlers, bleached and bare, in countless numbers, telling of the herds
of elk and bison that had once fed in these vast savannas. On sunny April days, the mother fox lay out
with her young on southward sloping swells. Often we met a prairie wolf, finding in it the spirit of the
wilderness. To us it seemed that just over the next long swell toward the sunset the shaggy brown bison
still fed in myriads, and in our hearts was a longing to ride away into the "sunset regions" of our pioneer
songs.

Ques 1. In creating an impression of the prairie for the reader, the author of Passage 1 makes use of

1) reference to geological processes

2) description of its inhabitants You Answered.

3) evocation of different but equally attractive areas

4) comparison with other landscapes Correct Answer.

5) contrast to imaginary places

Ques 2. In Passage-1, abandon myself” most nearly means

1) dismiss as worthless

2) isolate from all others You Answered.

3) overlook unintentionally

4) retreat completely

5) become absorbed in Correct Answer.

Ques 3. The author of Passage 1 qualifies his judgment of the prairie by

1) pointing out his own subjectivity Correct Answer.

2) commenting on his lack of imagination

3) mentioning his physical fatigue

4) apologizing for his prejudices against the landscape You Answered.

5) indicating his psychological agitation

Ques 4. In Passage 2, the author`s references to things beyond his direct experience indicate the

1) unexpected dangers of life on the unsettled prairie

2) psychological interweaving of imagination and the natural scene Correct Answer.

3) exaggerated sense of mystery that is natural to children

4) a predominant influence of sight in experiencing a place

5) permanence of the loss of the old life of the prairie You Answered.

Ques 5. In the third sentence of para 4 (passage II), masses metaphorically compares the towheads
to

1) ships on a stormy ocean

2) birds on a pond

3) reefs submerged by rising waters You Answered.

4) islands amidst the surf Correct Answer.

5) islands engulfed by a river

Ques 6. One aspect of Passage 2 that might make it difficult to appreciate it is the author's apparent
assumption that readers will

1) have seen nineteenth-century paintings or photographs of the prairie

2) connect accounts of specific prairie towns with their own experiences of the prairie You

Answered.

3) be able to visualize the plants and the animals that are named Correct Answer.

4) recognize the references to particular pioneer

5) understand the children's associations with the flowers that they gathered

Ques 7. In both passages, the authors liken the prairie to

1) a desert
 2) an island

3) a barren wilderness You Answered.

4) a large animal

5) a body of waters Correct Answer.

Ques 8. The contrast between the two passages reflects primarily the biases of a

1) grown man and a little boy You Answered.

2) journalist and a writer of fiction

3) passing visitor and a local resident Correct Answer.

4) native of Europe and a native of the United States

5) weary tourist and an energetic farm worker

Ques 9. In Passage 1, the word 'tamed' most nearly means

1) Composed You Answered.

2) trained

3) subdued Correct Answer.

4) captured

5) befriended