SSAT Middle Level Reading Practice Test 35

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No man can fully grasp how far and how fast we have come in the 50,000 years of man's recorded history. We know very little about the first 40,000 years, except at the end of them advanced man had learned to use the skins of animals to cover them. Then about 10,000 years ago, man emerged from his caves to construct other kinds of shelter. Only 5,000 years ago man learned to write and use a cart with wheels. Christianity began less than 2,000 years ago. The printing press came within the last 1,000 years, and then less than 200 years ago, during this whole span of human history, the steam engine provided a new source of power. Newton explored the meaning of gravity. In the last century, electric lights and telephones and automobiles and airplanes became available. Only in the last 50 years did we develop penicillin and television and nuclear power, and now if America's new spacecraft succeeds in reaching Venus, we will have literally reached the stars.

-John F. Kennedy from "We choose to go to the moon…"

1. According to the speaker, man learned to write about how many years ago?

  • A. 300
  • B. 1,000
  • C. 5,000
  • D. 10,000
  • E. 20,000

2. The main idea of this passage is that

  • A. space travel has been a goal for a very long time.
  • B. man has learned from the past during each era.
  • C. 50,000 years has gone by in a blink of an eye.
  • D. mankind is learning at an increasingly faster rate.
  • E. certain inventions have changed the course of history.

3. The speaker's tone can best be described as

  • A. serious
  • B. inspirational
  • C. casual
  • D. argumentative
  • E. nervous

4. It can be inferred from the passage that

  • A. Venus was discovered only a few years ago.
  • B. gravity has been studied for over ten thousand years.
  • C. most major events occurred earlier in human history. 
  • D. Christianity had its origins about 1,000 years ago.
  • E. nuclear power came after electric and steam power.

5. In the selection, all of the following are mentioned as turning points in history EXCEPT

  • A. the invention of new power sources.
  • B. improvements in transportation.
  • C. the discovery of America.
  • D. the start of Christianity.
  • E. faster ways of making books.