SSAT Middle Level Reading Practice Test 28

Thomas Edison created many inventions, but his favorite was the phonograph. While working on improvements to the telegraph and the telephone, Edison figured out a way to record sound on tinfoil-coated cylinders. In 1877, he created a machine with two needles: one for recording and one for playback. When Edison spoke into the mouthpiece, the sound vibrations of his voice would be indented onto the cylinder by the recording needle.

"Mary had a little lamb" were the first words that Edison recorded on the phonograph and he was amazed when he heard the machine play them back to him. In 1878, Edison established a company to sell his new machine.

Edison suggested other uses for the phonograph, such as: letter writing and dictation, phonographic books for blind people, a family record (recording family members in their own voices), music boxes and toys, clocks that announce the time, and a connection with the telephone so communications could be recorded.

The phonograph also allowed soldiers to take music off to war with them. During World War I, Edison's company created a special phonograph for the U.S. Army. Many Army units purchased these phonographs because it meant a lot to the soldiers to have music remind them of home. In a recording, Edison himself reminded Americans of the enormous sacrifice made by the soldiers.

-America's Library

1. This passage is primarily about

• A. the life of a great American inventor.
• B. the many inventions of Thomas Edison.
• C. the role of the phonograph in modern society.
• D. the origin and uses of an invention.
• E. how the phonograph changed World War I.

2. It can be inferred from the passage that

• A. Edison sold many of the phonographs all by himself.
• B. the phonograph was most important for letter writing.
• C. the phonograph had a positive effect on U.S. troops.
• D. Edison used tinfoil in the invention of the telephone.
• E. Edison loved to read nursery rhymes as a child.

3. Edison believed that a phonograph could be used for each of the following reasons EXCEPT

• A. to help disabled people
• B. to entertain children
• C. to announce the time
• D. to record voices
• E. to interpret languages

4. Each of the following words may be used to describe Edison EXCEPT:

• A. Submissive
• B. Appreciative
• C. Imaginative
• D. Spontaneous
• E. Predictive

5. According to the passage, needles were used to

• A. create the telegraph, but not the telephone.
• B. indent sound vibrations onto a cylinder.
• C. connect the mouthpiece to the playback button.
• D. produce sound vibrations.
• E. secure the tinfoil on each cylinder.