Vertical gene transfer involves the transmission of genetic material from a parent to offspring; horizontal gene transfer, on the other hand, involves the exchange of genetic material between organisms not in a parent-offspring relationship. While horizontal gene transfer is common among prokaryotes—single-celled organisms such as the bacteria Carnobacterium viridans and Massilia timonae—it has rarely been observed among eukaryotes (typically multicellular organisms). However, new studies suggest that horizontal gene transfer is more common in eukaryotes than originally thought.

[1] Which choice best states the function of the underlined sentence in the text as a whole?

Known for the albums Someday My Prince Will Come and Milestones, jazz trumpeter Miles Davis collaborated several times with pianist Gil Evans. Their 1958 adaptation of George Gershwin's opera Porgy and Bess bears little resemblance to the 1935 original. Davis and Evans felt no desire to please listeners expecting an exact duplication of the opera. They omitted parts, such as the aria “I Got Plenty of Nuthin’,” and sometimes made only brief gestures toward Gershwin’s melodies. But Davis and Evans’s willingness to recompose Gershwin’s work led to one of the most enduring albums in Davis’s catalog.

[2] Which choice best describes the function of the underlined sentence in the text as a whole?

Hip-hop pedagogy is a form of teaching that’s gaining popularity across school subjects. It involves incorporating hip-hop and rap music into lessons as well as using hip-hop elements when teaching other subject matters. For example, Quan Neloms’s students look for college-level vocabulary and historical events in rap songs. Researchers claim that in addition to developing students’ social justice awareness, hip-hop pedagogy encourages student success by raising students’ interest and engagement.

[3] Which finding, if true, would most strongly support the underlined claim?

The Old Manse in Concord, Massachusetts, is the house where Nathaniel Hawthorne lived briefly and wrote his short story called Mosses from an Old Manse. Now the house is a museum dedicated to Hawthorne's life and writings. Visitors travel to this museum to feel more connected to an author they admire. To encourage that sense of connection, the museum's curators recommend nearby hiking trails and organize outdoor activities. Such activities help visitors appreciate the natural scenery that inspired Hawthorne.

[4] Which choice best states the function of the underlined sentence in the text as a whole?

In 2015 Filipa Faleiro and colleagues published a study concluding that ocean acidification has a strong effect on the behavior of Hippocampus guttulatus, a species of fish. However, Faleiro and colleagues’ study relied on a mean sample size of only 6 fish. In a 2022 review of various scientists’ conclusions about the impacts of ocean acidification on fish behavior, Jeff C. Clements and colleagues caution that relying on such a relatively small sample size can increase the potential for biased analysis. Such analysis, in turn, can contribute to reports of exaggerated effects.

[5] Which choice best describes the function of the underlined sentence in the text as a whole?

Researchers César A. Hidalgo, Elisa Castañer, and Andres Sevtsuk created a computer model to predict the mix of hotels, supermarkets, and other businesses found in a given neighborhood. How we define a neighborhood and its boundaries is subjective, so the team used a clustering algorithm to locate dense groupings of amenities that represent human-identified neighborhoods like Boston’s Harvard Square. The predictive model, which incorporates this algorithm, is sure to be invaluable in determining the optimal mix of a city’s amenities.

[6] Which choice best describes the function of the underlined sentence in the text as a whole?

When a company has a new product, it has to decide when to tell people about it. Companies usually announce a new product before it is released and available for purchase. Those announcements can increase consumer excitement, which can mean that more people will buy the product. But the effect fades quickly, so companies need to be careful in timing the announcement and the release of a new product.

[7] Which finding, if true, would most directly support the underlined claim?

In the US, the Trademark Act of 1946 allows companies to own trademarks, which are words or images that represent specific products. “Kleenex,” for example, refers to products made specifically by Kimberly-Clark, the company that owns the trademark. However, the Trademark Act of 1946 also allows a trademark to be taken away if it ceases to be specific. For example, “cellophane” was once a trademark for a particular brand of food wrapping material. Over time, though, people started using “cellophane” to refer to many different brands. Because the word had become generic, a court decided that it could no longer be owned as a trademark.

[8] Which choice best describes the function of the underlined sentence in the text as a whole?

In 1889, Ferdinand L. Barnett founded Omaha, Nebraska's first Black newspaper, The Progress. Barnett's accomplishment is just one example of the rich history of Black journalism in the United States. That history is preserved by the National Association of Black Journalists, which was founded in Washington, DC, in 1975 to support Black media professionals and honor people like Barnett.

[9] Which choice best describes the function of the underlined sentence?

A microgenre is a specialized genre consisting of a comparatively small number of stylistically similar artists. The microgenre of electronic music known as hyperpop emerged in the 2010s, with American singer Dorian Electra as an early exponent. Their combination of lush synthesizer arrangements and propulsive beats with vocals electronically shifted in pitch below their natural range exemplifies the hyperpop sound. More recently, Japanese-British recording artist Rina Sawayama has contributed to the microgenre by incorporating pop melodies into hyperpop songs.

[10] Which choice best describes the function of the underlined sentence in the text as a whole?