Reading mini-test 2, 8th level, 2021B

(15 points)

Part 1. Read the following article and choose the best option (A-F) to complete each paragraph. (5 points)
Part 2. Read each paragraph and answer the questions. (10 points)

A. This was the first time a visited such an amazing place with Scott.
B. They were not only humiliating, but also excruciating.
C. But that only made him angrier, and a simple case of missing keys soon would become a full-blown drama starring
the two of us and our poor nervous pet.
D. You can’t expect a baboon to learn to flip on command in one session, just as you can’t expect an American
husband to begin regularly picking up his dirty socks by praising him once for picking up a single sock.
E. He did this by training the leggy birds to land on mats on the ground. This, he explained, is what is called and
‘incompatible behavior’, a simple but brilliant concept.
F. Eventually it hit me that the same techniques might work on that stubborn but lovable species, the American
husband.

How I trained my husband

As I wash the dishes at the kitchen sink, my husband, Scott, paces behind me, irritated. ‘Have you seen my keys?’, he
snarls and stomps from the room with our dog, Dixie, at his heels. In the past I would have turned off the faucet and joined
the hunt while trying to soothe my husband. (1) C Now, I focus on the wet dish in my hands. I don’t turn around. I don’t say
a word. I’m using a technique I learned from a dolphin trainer.

1. SNARLS in line 1 is closest in meaning to:

a) yawns
b) looks
c) growls
d) walks

2. Who would be part of the drama mentioned in this paragraph? The couple and the
dog__________________________________________

For a book I was writing about a school for exotic animal trainers, I started spending my days watching students do the
seemingly impossible: teaching hyenas to pirouette on command and chimps to skateboard. I listened, rapt, as
professional trainers explained how they taught dolphins to flip and elephants to paint. (2) F______ The central lesson I
learned is that I should reward behavior I liked and ignore behavior I don’t. After all, you don’t get a sea lion to balance a
ball on the end of its nose by nagging. The same goes for the American husband.

3. NAGGING in this paragraph means:

a) complaining and criticizing constantly.
b) forcing.
c) motivating.
d) showing off.

4. What is the basic technique she mentions in this paragraph?

reward behavior I liked and ignore behavior I do
_______________________________________________________________________________________________
I began thanking Scott if he threw one dirty shirt into the hamper. If he threw in two, I’d kiss him. I was using what trainers
call ‘approximations’, rewarding the small steps toward learning a whole new behavior. (3) D______ With the baboon you
first reward a hop, then a bigger hop, then an even bigger hop. With Scott the husband, I began to praise every small act
every time: if he drove just a mile an hour slower, tossed one pair of shorts into the hamper, or was on time for anything.

5. In this paragraph, a HOP is:

a) a jump
b) a piece of clothing
c) a prize
d) a container

6. What are ‘approximations’ according to this paragraph?

the small steps toward learning a new behavior
_______________________________________________________________________________________________

On a field trip with the students, I listened to a professional trainer describe how he had taught African crested cranes to
stop landing on his head and shoulders. (4) E______Rather than teach the cranes to stop landing on him, the trainer taught
the birds something else, a behavior that would make the undesirable behavior impossible since two things cannot be
done at the same time. This is called Least Reinforcing Scenario (L.R.S) where bad behavior receives no response at all so it
does not get reinforced in any way. At home, I came up with incompatible behaviors for Scott and used my L.R.S
techniques.

7. What would be a synonym for CAME UP WITH in this paragraph?

a) arrived
b) reached
c) provided
d) forgot

8. Can ‘incompatible behaviors’ happen simultaneously?

NO_________________________________________________

Professionals talk of animals that understand training so well that eventually use it back on the trainer. My animal did the
same. When the training techniques worked so beautifully, I couldn’t resist telling my husband what I was up to. He wasn’t
offended, just amused. The last fall, firmly in middle age, I learned that I needed braces. (5) A______ One morning, as I
launched into yet another tirade about how uncomfortable I was, Scott just looked at me blankly. He didn’t say a word or
acknowledge my rant in any way, not even with a od. I started to walk away, then, I realized what was happening, and I
turned and asked, ‘Are you giving me an L.R.S?’ Silence. ‘You are, aren’t you?’ He finally smiled, but his L.R.S. had already
done the trick. He’d begun to train me, the American wife.

9. BLANKLY in this paragraph means:

a) angrily
b) emotionlessly
c) amusingly
d) strangely

10. What does the author call herself in this paragraph? American Wife
___________________________________________________