Pte MC Choose Single Answer

Most Repeated MC Choose Single Answer

1. Language

If our language acts as a pair of glasses with tinted lenses, can we go one step further? Are these lenses actually distorting? Does our language predispose us to a particular line of thinking and warp our view of reality? Do the differences that exist between languages in their grammatical structure or in their vocabulary actually control our patterns of thought? As some linguists have asked: How different would Aristotle's logic have been if he had spoken Mandarin or Hopi?
Q. What is the main issue which is concerning the writer?
a. the reasons behind Aristotle's philosophy
b. the way in which writers distort reality
c. the extent to which language influences thought
d. the causes of differences between languages
Ans. c. the extent to which language influences thought

2. Fear of crime

It would come as a surprise to many that the concept of fear of crime is a recent invention. However, prior to the mid-1960s the term was never used, and certainly not in the sense we use it today. This may not on the face of it seem very significant; terms, ideas and language continually change. However, fear of crime is more than simply a term to describe a physical or psychological reaction to the threat or perceived threat of victimization. Rather, it is now seen as a quantifiable, measurable, social scientific object, a policy target and a political issue. Read the text and answer the multiple-choice question by selecting the correct response. Only one response is correct.

Q. This information suggests that the key way in which the concept of fear of crime has changed is that _____
a. it is now regarded as a measurable phenomenon, which can be addressed through government policies.
b. before the 1960s it was linked to victimization without being linked to more commonly held views about violence.
c. before the 1960s it referred to personal issues whereas now it refers to abstract issues. it was previously conceived in physical terms, whereas it is now seen in psychological terms.
Ans. a. it is now regarded as a measurable phenomenon, which can be addressed through government policies.

3. Climate change

Everyday millions of lights and computers are left on in deserted offices, apartments and houses. Environmental activists say that simply switching them off could cut Sydney’s greenhouse gas emissions by five percent over the next year. Per capita, Australia is one of the world’s largest producers of carbon dioxide and other gases that many scientists believe are helping to warm the Earth’s atmosphere, causing climate upset. A long-standing drought and serious water shortages in Australia have focused much attention on climate change. Some experts warn higher temperatures could leave this nation of 20 million people at the mercy of more severe droughts and devastating tropical cyclones.

Q. One present indicator of climate change in Australia is …
a. Gas emissions
b. Environmental activists
c. Carbon dioxide
d. Drought
Ans. d. Drought

4. Pinker

In a sequence of bestsellers, including The Language Instinct and How the Mind Works, Pinker has argued the swathes of our mental, social and emotional lives may have originated as evolutionary adaptions, well suited to the lives our ancestors eked out on the Pleistocene savannah. Sometimes it seems as if nothing is immune from being explained this way. Road rage, adultery, marriage, altruism, our tendency to reward senior executives with corner offices on the top floor, and the smaller number of women who become mechanical engineers all may have their roots in natural selection, Pinker claims. The controversial implications are obvious: that men and women might differ in their inborn abilities at performing certain tasks, for example, or that parenting may have little influence on personality.

Q. According to the text, what is Pinker’s main point view?
a. Everything related to our mental, social and emotional lives can be explained by evolutionary adaptions.
b. The smaller number of women who become mechanical engineers is due to lack of interest of this profession among women.
c. Men and women differ in their inborn abilities at performing certain tasks.
d. Although most things have their roots in natural selection, but other things like marriage and road rage are exception.
Ans. a. Everything related to our mental, social and emotional lives can be explained by evolutionary adaptions.

5. Art 

Many argue that art cannot be defined. We could go about this in several ways. Art is often considered as the process or product of deliberately arranging elements in a way that appeals to the senses or emotions. It encompasses a diverse range of human activities, creations and ways of expression, including music, literature, film, sculpture and paintings. The meaning of art is explored in a branch of philosophy known as aesthetics. At least, that is what Wikipedia claims.

Q. What is the main idea about this essay?
a. Art is a difficult and complex form to explain.
b. Wikipedia defines art under aesthetics, which is a branch of philosophy.
c. Music, literature, film and sculpture do not define art.
d. Art is directed in a way that it deliberately appeals to the emotions of people.
Ans. a. Art is a difficult and complex form to explain.

6. Artists

The artists were not a rich man’s frivolous addition to his entourage but an essential part of a scientific team in the age before photography. Their principal task was to draw the specimens that the scientists collected. Although the naturalists, such as Banks, intended to preserve some of their specimens and take them home to England, it would not be practical to do so with all of them. Banks also expected to dissect certain animals, and the artists would preserve a record of this work. In addition to their scientific drawings, Banks wanted the artists to sketch the people and places they visited.

Q. Which of the following can be inferred from the text?
a. Dissecting specimens was not as useful as taking them to England.
b. Naturalists themselves were often talented artists.
c. Photography eventually made scientific expeditions more productive.
d. Artists performed a variety of tasks in early scientific explorations.
Ans. d. Artists performed a variety of tasks in early scientific explorations.

7. TV advertising 

From a child's point of view, what is the purpose of TV advertising? Is advertising on TV done to give actors the opportunity to take a rest or practice their lines? Or is it done to make people buy things? Furthermore, is the main difference between programs and commercials that commercials are for real, whereas programs are not, or that programs are for kids and commercials for adults? As has been shown several times in the literature (e.g. Butter et al. 1981 Donohue, Henke, and Donohue 1980 Macklin 1983 and 1987 Robertson and Rossiter 1974 Stephens and Stutts 1982), some children are able to distinguish between programs and commercials and are aware of the intent of TV advertising, whereas others are not.

Q. According to the text, how do children usually understand advertising?
a. Children cannot distinguish between programs and commercials at all.
b. Advertising is done so that actors can take a rest and practice their      lines.
c. Programs are for children while commercials are for adults.
d. Some children can distinguish between programs and commercials while others cannot.
Ans. d. Some children can distinguish between programs and commercials while others cannot.

8. Solid chemistry 

Phoenix is adamant that the new course will teach solid chemistry, but he thinks that an attraction for students will be a teaching approach that differs significantly from his days as an undergraduate. This takes real-life issues as the starting point of lectures and modules, such as how drugs are made or the science behind green issues. Out of this study, he says, students will be exposed to the same core chemistry unchanged over decades, but they will be doing it in a way that is more engaging and more likely to lead to more fundamental learning.

Q. What is Professor Phoenix’s opinion about a good teaching approach?
a. The teaching approach from his days as an undergraduate is a very good one already.
b. A good teaching approach should base on real-life issues, which is more attractive for students.
c. To better understand the basis of chemistry, students should be taught the same core chemistry in the same way over and over again.
d. Traditional lectures and modules should be abandoned completely.
Ans. b. A good teaching approach should base on real-life issues, which is more attractive for students.

9. Plainness

 Now that doesn't mean that plainness is the only good style, or that you should become a slave to spare, unadorned writing. Formality and ornateness have their place, and incompetent hands complexity can carry us on a dizzying, breathtaking journey. But most students, most of the time, should strive to be sensibly simple, to develop a baseline style of short words, active verbs, and relatively simple sentences conveying clear actions or identities. It's faster, it makes arguments easier to follow, it increases the chances a busy reader will bother to pay attention, and it lets you focus more attention on your moments of rhetorical flourish, which I do not advise abandoning altogether (see the upcoming section on rhetoric).

Q. According to the text, what is correct about plainness?
a. Plainness means that students should aim to develop a baseline style of short words, active verbs and relatively simple sentences conveying clear actions or identities.
b. Plainness is the only good style, so we should abandon formality and ornateness.
c. Plainness sometimes makes it harder for readers to follow and to understand the arguments.
d. If students focus on plainness, then they cannot pay any attention on rhetorical flourish.
Ans. a. Plainness means that students should aim to develop a baseline style of short words, active verbs and relatively simple sentences conveying clear actions or identities.

10. Adolescent/Teens’ brain

Your teenage daughter gets top marks in school, captains the debate team, and volunteers at a shelter for homeless people. But while driving the family car, her text-messages her best friend and rear-ends another vehicle. How can teens be so clever, accomplished, and responsible and reckless at the same time? Easily, according to two physicians at Children's Hospital Boston and Harvard Medical School (HMS) who have been exploring the unique structure and chemistry of the adolescent brain. The teenage brain is not just an adult brain with fewer miles on it, says Frances E. Jensen, a professor of neurology. It’s a paradoxical time of development. These are people with very sharp brains, but they're not quite sure what to do with them. In animals, the movement is coordinated by a cluster of neurons in the spinal cord called the central pattern generator (CPG). This produces signals that drive muscles to contract rhythmically in a way that produces running or walking, depending on the pattern of pulses. A simple signal from the brain instructs the CPG to switch between different modes, such as going from a standstill to walking.

Q. According to the text, what is the reason teens can be so clever, accomplished and responsible and reckless at the same time in terms of brain activities?
a. Their brains are as adults’ with fewer miles on it.
b. Their actions are controlled by CPG which receives a simple signal from the brain to switch between different modes.
c. Their brains are too small to deal with so much information.
d. They have very sharp brains but do not know what to do with them. 
Ans. d. They have very sharp brains but do not know what to do with them. 

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