READING

COMPREHENSION
PRÁCTICA 4
REVOLUTION/
IMPRESSIONISM

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 TEXT 1

By the 1920’s in the United States , great change had been made in daily life
by an accumul a ti o n of inventi o ns that had been produced in increasi ng numbers
since the Civil War. These technol o gi cal innovatio ns created what, in effect, was a
Line social revolution.
5 Impro vements in communi ca tio ns served to knit more closely citizens of
diverse ethnic and politica l backgro unds . Rapid printing presses, typesetting
devices , and page-pl a te process es made printed matter more widely accessibl e.
The telepho ne simplified person -to -pers on communi ca tio n. The phonogra ph,
the silent motion picture, the radio, and the sound picture for the first time made
10 audito ry and visual impact simulta neousl y possible over the whole country and
had the inevitabl e, and perhaps undesira bl e, effect of establis hi ng a trend to
national confo rmi ty in thought and feeling. One could call this revoluti on the
nationaliza ti o n of thought and taste.
Impro vements in transpo rta ti o n made all parts of the country less remote from
15 each other when measured by the time required to go from one place to another.
Bicycl es and trolleys put the nation on wheels. Then the auto mo bi le provided the
means for speed and mobility, now so dear to Ameri cans , and brought a demand
for better highwa ys . By the 1920’s cargo trucks were beginni ng to cut into railroa d
revenues , and the latest wonder, the airplane, was a fairly commo n sight.
20 The transpo rt revolutio n was made possible by the developm ent and
perfecti o n of new engines and moto rs . The internal -co m bus ti o n engine, using
gasoline or oil, could be built in compa ct power units admira bl y suited to
automo bil es , aircraft, and boats. The use of electri ci ty, genera ted by water power
or coal-burni ng plants, simplified the problems of mecha ni cal power for industria l
25 use and made electri cal illuminatio n commo npl a ce in cities, indoors and out.
Electri ci ty also powered an increasing variety of domes ti c appliances .

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1. The passage focuses on the 5. The words “each other” in
United States in the 1920’s line 15 refer to
primaril y in terms of the (A) impro vements in
(A) creativity of American transportation
inventors (B) parts of the country
(B) decline in social (C) bicycles and trolleys
relationships (D) better highwa ys
(C) influence of technol o gy on
society 6. The word “mobility” in line 17 is
(D) negati ve side of closest in meaning to
technol o gi cal progres s (A) excitement
(B) movement
2. The word “knit” in line 5 is (C) modernity
closest in meaning to (D) control
(A) unite
(B) attract 7. Acco rdi ng to the passage,
(C) inform which of the following
(D) study modes of transpo rta ti o n was
negati vel y affected by motor
3. The word “accessibl e” in line 7 vehicles?
is closest in meaning to (A) Trolleys
(A) understandable (B) Bicycles
(B) read (C) Trains
(C) printed (D) Airplanes
(D) available
8. The passage sugges ts that
4. Acco rdi ng to the autho r, a majo r advanta ge of the
expanded communi ca tio ns led internal -co mbus ti on engine
to a decreas e in was its
(A) individuality (A) safety
(B) travel (B) size
(C) patriotism (C) durability
(D) entertainment (D) price

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9. The author identifies all of the following as contri buto rs to the “social revolution” of the
1920’s EXCEPT
(A) improved communication
(B) impro ved transpo rta ti on
(C) impro vements resulting from electricity
(D) impro vements in the arts

10. Where in the passage does the author give an exampl e of a technol o gi cal
advance that led to a demand for impro vement in another area?
(A) Lines 6-7
(B) Lines 16-17
(C) Lines 21-23
(D) Line 26

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 TEXT 2

The artisti c movement known as Impressi o nis m was first identifi ed in 1874
when a group of artists , dissatisfi ed with the receptio n of their works by the
academi c art establishment of their period, chose to hold a separa te exhibi tio n of
Line their paintings.
5 Despite obvious differences in style, all of these painters were connected
by an ability to catch a moment and preserve it on canvas , and in their belief
in the importa nce of that moment. They readily accepted and made use of the
technol o gi cal advances available to them, and in the end beca me recogni zed
as proponents of one of the most significa nt movements in the history of art, a
10 movement that produced an aestheti c revoluti o n in art.
Several technol o gi cal breakthro ughs were responsi bl e, to some degree, for
the creatio n and executi o n of the new Impres sio nis t style. One of these was the
inventi o n of a new brush that gave artists greater control . Another useful inventio n
was the collapsible tin tube. This easily reclosed container preserved the oil paint
15 in a stable conditi o n without altering the color. It was a great impro vem ent over
animal bladders , which had been used for centuri es to hold oil paint. The new
tube was porta bl e and made it possible for artists to work outside. This freedo m
made it possible for Impres sio ni s t paintings to “capture the moment,” giving them
a feeling of immediacy.
20 Another innova tio n was color. Nineteenth -century chemi s ts had created a new
palette of colors, derived from cola tar and other substances . These were first used
by textil e manufa cturers and then adopted by artists . They included some of the
brighter colors – new shades of blue, green, and yellow, whose tones gave the
Impressi oni s t paintings their chara cteris ti c shimmeri ng quality.

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1. What did the group of 5. In line 15 the word “It” refers to
Impressi o nis t artists do in (A) container
1874? (B) condition
(A) They radicall y changed (C) oil paint
their style of painting. (D) color
(B) They held their own
exhibition. 6. Which of the following words
(C) They adopted new does NOT refer to something
techni ques and that holds paint?
technologies. (A) Bladder
(D) They refused to paint (B) Tube
anything that year. (C) Condition
(D) Container
2. The word “it” in line 6 refers to
(A) style 7. What contri buti o n did chemis ts
(B) moment make to the Impres sio nis t
(C) ability movement?
(D) canvas (A) New textiles
(B) Better canvases
3. The word “readily” in line 7 is (C) Additio nal colors
closest in meaning to (D) Tin tubes
(A) purposely
(B) cautiously 8. It can be inferred that
(C) cleverly Impressi o nis t paintings differed
(D) eagerly from other nineteenth -century
paintings in terms of which of
4. According to the passage, the following?
Impressionism is regarded (A) The size of the canvas
historically as (B) The brightness of the colors
(A) a significant, revolutionary (C) The value of the painting
movement (D) The talent of the artists
(B) an innovati ve yet minor
style
(C) an unenlightened, radical
phase
(D) a traditional form of
nineteenth -century
painting

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9. Where in the passage does
the author mention two
new technologies available
to artists in the nineteenth
century?
(A) First paragraph
(B) Second paragra ph
(C) Third paragra ph
(D) Fourth paragra ph