VSTEP READING TEST 5

READING (60 minutes)

Directions: In this section of the test, you will read FOUR different passages, each followed by 10
questions about it. For questions 1-40, you are to choose the best answer A, B, C or D, to each question.
Then, on your answer sheet, find the number of the question and fill in the space that corresponds to the
letter of the answer you have chosen. Answer all questions following a passage on the basis of what is
stated or implied in that passage.

Passage 1 (Questions 1-10)

The Positive Effects on Children of Owning a Dog

Brendan’s best friend is Tip. Tip and Brendan are inseparable. They teach each other things and they
look after each other. Tip has helped Brendan become more responsible, more caring, and a better
friend. Brendan is nine-year-old boy, and Tip is a ten-year-old dog. Brendan and Tip are an example of
how owning a dog can have a positive effect on a child’s development. Having a dog develops a child’s
sense of responsibility, broadens his capacity for empathy, and teaches the nature of friendship.

Having a dog helps a child learn how to act responsibly. As a dog owner, the child must take care of the
animal’s daily needs. The dog must be fed and exercised every day. A dog is completely dependent on its
owner for all its needs, including the need for good health and a safe environment. Therefore being
responsible for a dog also means taking care of the dog so that it says healthy. Furthermore, the owner
must take responsibility for the safety of the dog and the safety of the people it come into contact with.
If the child forgets any of these duties and responsibilities, or ignores any of the dog’s needs, the dog
will suffer. This teaches the child that his responsibility to the dog is more important than his desire to
play with his toys, talk on the phone, or watch TV. This is true not only for the care of a dog, but also for
the care of oneself, another person, or one’s job. Learning how to take responsibility for the health and
welfare of a dog leads to learning how to take responsibility for oneself.

Another lesson that a child can learn from having a dog is how to be empathetic. Empathy is the ability
to put oneself in another person’s, or in this case another creature’s, situation and imagine that person’s
or creature’s feelings or problems. A dog cannot express itself with speech, so its owner must learn how
to interpret its behavior. The child must learn to understand what the dog’s behavior means. Is the dog
frightened, aggressive, or sick? The child needs to understand what is going on in the dog’s mind.
Understanding a situation from the dog’s perspective helps the child understand why the dog is
behaving in a certain way and what the dog needs. The result of learning to read a dogs’ behavior is that
the child develops empathy. By learning how to empathize with a dog, the child also learns how to
empathize with the other people. This leads to the child becoming a more considerate and caring
person.
Being considerate and caring are important characteristics in a good friend. One of the most significant
benefits of owning a dog is the example of true friendship that a dog provides. A dog gives unconditional
love to its owner. A dog will not stop loving its owner because of a little anger, indifference, or neglect.
The dog will wait patiently for its owner to pat its head and say a few kind words. This acceptance of the
negative qualities and appreciation for the positive qualities of its owner provide a wonderful model of
how to be a good friend. A child soon realizes that his dog is always listen to him, will always be ready to
play with him, will always protect him, and will always forgive him. A child who has learned to be even
half as good a friend to others as his dog is to him will have learned one of the most valuable lessons in
life.

These are some of the most important lessons a child will ever learn. The benefits of owning a dog will
last the child’s entire lifetime. The understanding and appreciation of responsibility, empathy, and
friendship that a child develops from the experience of having a dog will help him or her grow into a
reliable, caring, and mature adult.

1. The dog’s name is ______.

A. Tip
B. Brendan
C. Brennan
D. Kip
2. Which of the following have a positive effect on a child’s development?
A. Feeling responsible
B. Feeling empathy
C. Building friendships
D. All of the above
3. A child learns how to be responsible for a dog by _________.
A. Taking away a safe environment
B. Feeding the dog weekly
C. Becoming dependent on the dog
D. Taking care of the dogs daily needs
4. Learning how to care for a dog can help children _________.
A. To choose the dog over playing
B. To take care of themselves
C. To ignore the dog’s needs
D. To get welfare
5. Children can learn how to ________.
A. Understand the dog’s needs
B. Only care about themselves, and not others
C. Be irresponsible
D. Get rid of the dog they don’t want to take care of it
6. The dog’s owner must interpret which of the following from their dog’s behavior?
A. Fear
B. Happiness
 C. Illness
D. All of the above
7. Which of the following is a positive result of learning how to interpret a dog’s behavior?
A. Becoming selfish
B. Being thoughtless
C. Becoming empathetic
D. Becoming arrogant
8. What kind of love does a dog provide?
A. Shallow
B. Unconditional
C. Conditional
D. One-sided
9. Which of the following is NOT a benefit of a child owning a dog?
A. Friendship
B. Neglect
C. Companionship
D. Reliability
10. In what ways is a dog loyal?
A. It offers love to people who feed it.
B. It is able to tolerate the negative qualities of humans.
C. It will bite people.
D. It neglects its owner.

Passage 2 (Questions 11-20)

The word synthesize means to produce by combining separate elements. Thus, synthesized sound is
sound that a musician builds from component elements. A synthesized sound may resemble a
traditional acoustic musical timbre, or it may be completely novel and original. One characteristic is
common to all synthesized music, however. The sound qualities themselves, as well as the relationships
among the sounds, have been “designed,” or “composed,” by a musician.

Many people believe that synthesized music imitates traditional musical instrument and ensembles.
They believe that synthesized music is created mechanically without control by a musician. These ideas
are not true.

A builder of a traditional musician instrument assembles a collection of acoustic elements whose

interrelationships cannot change. For example, a violin has four strings positioned over a fingerboard
and coupled through the bridge to the violin’s body. Violinists bring the strings into contact with the
fingerboard and a bow to cause the strings to vibrate. The resultant sound is resonated by the hollow
body of the violin. However, violinists do not change the relationship of the strings to the bridge, nor
that of the bridge to the body. Nor, do they reconfigure its slightly hour-glass shape.
Synthesists, on the other hand, view their instrument as a collection of parts that they configure to
produce the sounds they want. They call this programming, “ or “patching,” and they may do this before
or during performance. The parts that synthesists work with depend on the sign of the instruments that
they are using. In general, synthesizers include elements that generate and combine waveforms and
that shape loudness of the sounds. Others sound-producing and processing elements, which can exist as
electronic circuits or as built in computer programs, may also be available. To control these elements, a
synthesis may use a combination of a conversational keyboard and other manual control devices, such
as wheels, sliders, and joysticks.

11. Which answer choice is closest meaning to the word resemble as used in line 3?
A. Recreate
B. Put together
C. Sound like
D. Take apart
12. According to the passage, what do component elements of synthesizers include?
A. Computer programs and hollow bodies
B. Bridges and electronic circuits
C. Fingerboards and pitchers
D. Computers and electronic keyboards
13. It can be inferred from the passage that many people _______.
A. Dislike synthesized music because it lacks harmony and beauty
B. Enjoy imitating the sounds of musical instruments
C. Build musical instruments in their home
D. Believe that synthesized music is created by a machine, not by a musician
14. According to the passage, the interrelationships of acoustical elements in traditional musical
instruments __________.
A. Comprise wood and horsehair
B. Cannot be changed
C. Resonated musical notes
D. Resemble an hour glass
15. Which answer choice is the closest in meaning to the word coupled as used in line 13?
A. Connected
B. Performed
C. Folded
D. Vibrated
16. All of the following contribute to the sound of a violin EXCEPT
A. A bridge
B. A fingerboard
C. A keyboard
D. A bow
17. Where in the passage would the following sentence best fit? This, in turn, vibrates the air and
sends the sound to the listener’s ears.
A. After the word original in the first paragraph
 B. After the word ensembles in the second paragraph
C. After the phrase hollow body of a violin in the third paragraph
D. At the end of the fourth paragraph
18. The word its as used in line 18 refers to which of the following words or phrases from the
preceding sentence?
A. Violinists
B. Strings
C. The body
D. The bridge
19. What is the main idea of the passage?
A. Synthesized music is loved by everyone who enjoys rock and popular music.
B. Synthesized music is used mostly in film and TV.
C. Synthesized music combines separate elements and changes the relationships of those
elements.
D. Synthesized music cannot resemble traditional musical instruments.
20. According to the passage, what are wheels, sliders, and joysticks?
A. Relationships among elements
B. Parts of computer game boards
C. Manual control devices on the sound synthesizers
D. Sound qualities designed by a synthesist

Passage 3 (Questions 21-30)

Smart cards and mobi phones are becoming an increasingly popular way to make all sorts of payments.
Even now, in Japan thousands of transactions, from paying rail tickets to picking up the groceries, take
place every day with customers passing their handsets across a small flat-screen device. And predictions
in the world of finance reckon that payments using mobi phones will have risen to more than $50 billion
in the very near future.

What’s the appeal of e-card? Compared to cheques or credit cards, it offers the speed of cash, but more
so. It takes just one tenth of a second to complete most transactions and as no change is required,
errors in counting are eliminated. Fraud and theft are also reduced and for the retailer, it reduces the
cost of handling money. Sony’s vision of having a chip embedded in computers. TVs and games consoles
means that films, music and games can be paid for easily and without having to input credit card details.

And what about the future of the banks? Within their grip on the market, banks and credit-card firms
want to be in a position to collect most of the fees from the users of mobile and contactless-payment
systems. But the new system could prove to be a “disuptive technology” as far as the banks are
concerned. If payments for a few coffees, a trains ticket and a newspaper are made every day by a
commuter with a mobile, this will not appear on their monthly credit card statements but on their
mobile phone statements. And having spent fortunes on branding, credit-card companies and banks do
not want to see other payment systems gaining popularity. It’s too early to say whether banks will miss
out and if so, by how much. However, quite a few American bankers are optimistic. They feel there is
reason to be suspicious of those who predict that high-street banks may be a thing of the past. They
point out that Internet banking did not result in the closure of their high-street branches as was
predicted. On the contrary, more Americans than ever are using local branches. So, as to whether we’ll
become a totally cash-free society or not, we’ll have to wait and see.

21. What is the main idea of the first paragraph?

A. The absence of traditional payment methods.
B. The increasing popularity of new payment methods
C. Preditions of future payment methods
D. Japan’s advanced forms of payment

22. Why does the author mention a small flat-screen device in the first paragraph?
A. to criticize the e-cash system
B. to examplify the e-cash system
C. to praise the e-cash system
D. to inform the e-cash system

23. Which of the following is NOT true about the strong point of E-cash?
A. Faster speed
B. Fewer mistakes
C. Reduced cost
D. No fraud

24. The word embedded is closet in meaning to ___________.

A. Integrated
B. Isolated
C. Generated
D. Manufactured

25. The word grip is closet in meaning to ________.

A. wealth
B. power
C. success
D. range of branches

26. Which of the following is NOT true according to the passage?

A. A lot of money has been invested into the new payment system by banks.
B. Payments using smart cards may increase to more than $50 billion.
C. Rail tickets can be purchased by mobi phones or smart cards in Japan.
D. Dealers are freed from handling money thanks to e-cash.

27. The author mentions the case of commuters in the third paragraph to illustrate __________.
 A. the modern technology of the e-cash system.
B. The banks’ cooperation with credit-card companies
C. The transferability of the system
D. A possible drawback of the system

28. What does the author think may happen in the future?
A. Banks will collect their fees through credit-card companies.
B. Daily express on drinks and tickets will appear on phone statements.
C. Americans will no longer go to their local bank branches.
D. Credit-card companies and banks will want to promote cash.

29. The word their refers to ______________.

A. credit cards
B. Internet banking
C. American bankers
D. High-street banks

30. How does the writer seem to feel about the future of banks?
A. uncertain
B. optimistic
C. pessimistic
D. neutral

Passage 4 (Questions 31-40)

One of the primary ways of approaching the Greek theatre is through archeology, the systematic study
ofmaterial remains such as architecture, inscriptions, sculpture, vase painting, and other forms of
decorativeart. [A] Serious on-site excavations began in Greece around 1870, but W. Dorpfeld did not
begin the firstextensive study of the Theatre of Dionysus until 1886. [B] Since that time, more than 167
other Greektheatres have been identified and many of them have been excavated. [C] Nevertheless,
they still do notpermit us to describe the precise appearance of the skene (illustrations printed in books
are conjecturalreconstructions), since many pieces are irrevocably lost because the buildings in later
periods became sources of stone for other projects and what remains is usually broken and scattered.
[D] That most of the buildings were remodeled many times has created great problems for those
seeking to date both the parts and the successive versions. Despite these drawbacks, archeology
provides the most concrete evidence we have about the theatre structures of ancient Greece. But, if
they have told us much, archeologists have not completed their work, and many sites have scarcely
been touched.

Perhaps the most controversial use of archeological evidence in theatre history is vase paintings,
thousandsof which have survived from ancient Greece. (Most of those used by theatre scholars are
reproduced in Margarete Bieber’s The History of the Greek and Roman Theatre.) Depicting scenes from
mythology anddaily life, the vases are the most graphic pictorial evidence we have. But they are also
easy to misinterpret. Some scholars have considered any vase that depicts a subject treated in a
surviving drama or any sceneshowing masks, flute players, or ceremonials to be valid evidence of
theatrical practice. This is a highlyquestionable assumption, since the Greeks made widespread use of
masks, dances, and music outside thetheatre and since the myths on which dramatists drew were
known to everyone, including vase painters, whomight well depict the same subjects as dramatists
without being indebted to them. Those vases showing scenes unquestionably theatrical are few in
number.

Written evidence about ancient Greek theatre is often treated as less reliable than archeological
evidence because most written accounts are separated so far in time from the events they describe and
because they provide no information about their own sources. Of the written evidence, the surviving
plays are usually treated as the most reliable. But the oldest surviving manuscripts of Greek plays date
from around the tenthcentury, C.E., some 1500 years after they were first performed. Since printing did
not exist during this time span, copies of plays had to be made by hand, and therefore the possibility of
textual errors creeping in was magnified. Nevertheless, the scripts offer us our readiest access to the
cultural and theatrical conditions out of which they came. But these scripts, like other kinds of evidence,
are subject to varying interpretations. Certainly performances embodied a male perspective, for
example, since the plays were written, selected, staged, and acted by men. Yet the existing plays feature
numerous choruses of women and many feature strong female characters. Because these characters
often seem victims of their own powerlessness and appear to be governed, especially in the comedies,
by sexual desire, some critics have seen these plays as rationalizations by the male-dominated culture
for keeping women segregated and cloistered. Other critics, however, have seen in these same plays an
attempt by male authors to force their male audiences to examine and call into question this
segregation and cloistering of Athenian women.

By far the majority of written references to Greek theatre date from several hundred years after the
events they report. The writers seldom mention their sources of evidence, and thus we do not know
what credence to give them. In the absence of material nearer in time to the events, however, historians
have used the accounts and have been grateful to have them. Overall, historical treatment of the Greek
theatre is something like assembling a jigsaw puzzle from which many pieces are missing: historians
arrange what they have and imagine (with the aid of the remaining evidence and logic) what has been
lost. As a result, though the broad outlines of Greek theatre history are reasonably clear, many of the
details remain open to doubt.

31. According to paragraph 1, why is it impossible to identify the time period for theatres in

Greece?

A. It Is confusing because stones from early sites were used to build later structures.

B. There are too few sites that have been excavated and very little data collected about them.

C. The archeologists from earlier periods were not careful, and many artifacts were broken.
D. Because it is very difficult to date the concrete that was used in construction during early periods.

32. What can be inferred from paragraph 1 about the skene in theatre history?

A. Drawings in books are the only accurate visual records.

B. Archaeologists have excavated a large number of them.

C. It was not identified or studied until the early 1800s.

D. Not enough evidence is available to make a precise model.

33. The word “primary” in the passage is closest in meaning to _________.

A. important

B. reliable

C. unusual

D. accepted

34. In paragraph 2, the author explains that all vases with paintings of masks or musicians may

not be evidence of theatrical subjects by

A. identifying some of the vases as reproductions that were painted years after the originals.

B. casting doubt on the qualifications of the scholars who produced the vases as evidence.

C. arguing that the subjects could have been used by artists without reference to a drama.

D. pointing out that there are very few vases that have survived from the time of early dramas.

35. In paragraph 3, the author states that female characters in Greek theatre _________.

A. had no featured parts in plays

B. frequently played the part of victims

C. were mostly ignored by critics

D. did not participate in the chorus

36. According to paragraph 3, scripts of plays may not be accurate because _________.

A. copies by hand may contain many errors

B. the sources cited are not well known

C. they are written in very old language

D. the printing is difficult to read

37. The word “them” in the passage refers to _________.

A. events

B. writers

C. sources

D. references

38. Why does the author mention a jigsaw puzzle in paragraph 4?

A. To compare the written references for plays to the paintings on vases

B. To justify using accounts and records that historians have located

C. To introduce the topic for the next reading passage in the textbook

D. To demonstrate the difficulty in drawing conclusions from partial evidence

39. Which of the following statements most accurately reflects the author’s opinion about vase

paintings?

A. Evidence from written documents is older than evidence from vase paintings.

B. There is disagreement among scholars regarding vase paintings.

C. The sources for vase paintings are clear because of the images on them.

D. The details in vase paintings are not obvious because of their age.

40. Look at the four squares [_] that indicate where the following sentence can be added to the

passage. These excavations have revealed much that was previously unknown, especially about the

dimensions and layout of theatres.

Where would the sentence best fit?

A. [A]

B. [B]

C. [C]

D. [D]