DRILL

Rosalind Franklin
The Nobel Prize for finding the structure of the DNA molecule was shared by three men in
1962. But it was a woman, Rosalind Franklin, who made that discovery possible. Working
with Maurice Wilkins, Franklin used the technique known as X-ray crystallography to show
that the DNA had a helical, or spiral, shape. Her results gave James Watson and Francis Crick
the key insight that led them to conclude in 1953 that the DNA molecule was shaped like a
double helix. That breakthrough enabled scientists to deduce how genes are passed by
heredity. Because female scientists in the early 1950s were often forced to work in the
shadow of their male counterparts, Franklin's pivotal work has been relegated to a footnote
to science history.

1. The word breakthrough in the passage is closest in meaning to

discovery
attempt
announcement
experiment

2. The word pivotal in the passage is closest in meaning to

essential
difficult
published
preliminary

Charter Schools
The charter-school movement in the United States developed in the 1990s as a reaction to
the perceived failure of public schools, especially in the inner cities. The concept is that
some money that normally goes to the public schools is given instead to private groups,
who find their own building, hire their own teachers, and plan their own curriculum. Charter
schools operate free from the control of the public schools, and they are expected to
produce better academic results. The name charter refers to the statutorily defined
performance contract that the schools are expected to meet. While there are many
successful charter schools, many others have not achieved the desired improvements. Thus
the wisdom and effectiveness of this innovation is still being debated.
 
3. The word perceived in the passage is closest in meaning to
 apparent
complete
familiar
costly

4. The word statutorily in the passage is closest in meaning to

legally
adequately
strictly
specifically

Philip Roth
Often picked by critics as the best American novelist of the past fifty years, Philip Roth writes
personal reflections on the experience of being a Jew in America as well as satiric looks at
history and sexual longings. His first book, Goodbye, Columbus, won the National Book
Award in 1960 and later became an influential movie. His 1969 novel, Portnoy's Complaint,
won critical praise while triggering a storm of controversy with its candid and raw
descriptions of adolescent lust and adult sexuality. It was banned for many years in some
towns. Roth often adopts a character as an alter ego and has him reappear in several novels.
For example, Nathan Zuckerman is the protagonist of five novels from 1979 to 1986 and
again in three more in 1997 to 2000.

5. The word triggering in the passage is closest in meaning to

prompting
rejecting
advising
calming

6. The word adolescent in the passage is closest in meaning to

youthful
elderly
improper
secret

Malthusian Catastrophe
In 1798, the English economist Thomas Malthus theorized that human population tends to
increase faster than food supplies. He predicted that much of the surplus population would
be killed off by wars and diseases but that the remaining people would be condemned to
“catastrophe,” that is, periods of starvation and misery. The Malthusian catastrophe has
already occurred in isolated cultures that had no means of replenishing resources. For
example, the original Easter Islanders died out after they deforested the whole island,
leading to soil erosion and the demise of the animals and plants on which they depended
for food. Some scientists see signs that a broader Malthusian catastrophe may be gaining
momentum today, citing the tragic recent histories of Haiti, Rwanda, and Ethiopia.

7. The word theorized in the passage is closest in meaning to

proposed
proved
learned
guessed

8. The word replenishing in the passage is closest in meaning to

renewing
protecting
creating
altering