Section 3. Reading

In the Reading Section, you will first have the opportunty to read the passage. You will use the scroll bar to view the rest of the passage. When you have finished reading the passage, you will use the “mouse” to click on Proceed. Then the questions about the passage will be represented. You are to choose the one best answer to each question. Answer all question about the information in a passage on the basis what is stated or implied in that passage.

Most of the questions will be multiple-choice questions. To answer these quesstions you will click on a choice below the question. To answer some questions, you will click on a word or a sentence in the passage, or you will click on a square to add a sentence to the passage.

Although its purpose and techniques were often magical, alchemy was, in many ways, the predecessor of the modern science of chemistry. The fundamental premise of alchemy derived from the best philosophical dogma and scientific pratice of the time, and in the majority of educated persons between 1400 and 1600 believed that alchemy had great merit.

The earliest authentic works on European alchemy are those of the English monk Roger Bacon and the German philosopher St. Albertus Magnus. In their treatises, they maintained that gold ws the perfect metal and that inferior metals such as lead and mercury were removed by various degrees of imperfection from gold. They further asserted that these base metals could be transmuted to gold by blending them with a subtance more perfect than gold. This elusive subtance was referred to as the “philosopher’s stone”. The process was called  transmutation.

Most of the early alchemists were artisans who were accustomed to keeping trade secrets and often resorted to cryptic terminology to record the progress of their work. The term “sun” was used for fold, “moon” for silver, and the five known planets for base metals. This convention of subtituting symbolic language attracted some mystical philosophers who compared the search for the perfect metal with the struggle of humankind for the perfection of the soul. The philosopher began to use the artisan’s terms in the mystical literature that they produced. Thus, by  the 14^th century, alchemyhad developed two distinct groups of practitioners. Both groups of alchemists continued to work throughout the history of alchemy, but, of course, it was the literary alchemists  who was more likely to produce a written record; therefore, muc of what is known about the science of alchemists who labored in laboratories.

1.  Which of the following is the main point of the passage ?

(A)   There were both laboratory and literary alchemists

(B)   Base metal can be transmuted to gold by blending them with a subtance more prefect than gold.

(C)   Roger Bacon and St. Albertus Magnus wrote about alchemy

(D)   Alchemy was the prodecessor of modern chemistry.

2.  The word authentic in paragraph 2 could best be replaced by…

(A)   Valuable

(B)   Genuine

(C)   Complete

(D)   Comprehensible

3.  Look at the word those in paragraph 2. Click on the word or phrase in the paragraph that refers to those.

4.  According to the alchemists, what is the difference between base metals and gold ?

(A)   Perfection

(B)   Chemical content

(C)   Temperature

(D)   Weight

5.  Look at the word asserted in paragraph 2. Click on the word  or phrase in the paragraph that is closest in meaning to asserted.

6.  According to the passage, what is the “philosopher’s stone” ?

(A)   Lead that was mixed with gold

(B)   An element that was never found

(C)   Another name for alchemy

(D)   A base Metal

7.  The word cryptic in paragraph 3 could be replaced by which of the following ?

(A)   Sholarly

(B)   Secret

(C)   Foreign

(D)   Precise

8.  Why did the early alchemists use terms “sun” and “moon” ?

(A)   To keep the work secret

(B)   To make the work more literary

(C)   To attact philophers

(D)   To produce a written record

9.  Who were the firs alchemists ?

(A)   Chemists

(B)   Writers

(C)   Artisans

(D)   Linguists

10. In Oaragraph 3, the author suggest that we know about the history of alchemy because …

(A)   The laboratory alchemists kept secrect notes.

(B)   The literary alchemists recorded itin writing

(C)   The mystical philosophers were not able to hide the alchemists.

(D)    The historians were able to interpret thesecre writings of the alchemists