Text Structure Practice B

There were more than 600 refugee camps all over the area where atrocities were carried out, and about 70,000 women were raped. The men that committed the violence were sometimes trained and paid by shopkeepers and landlords and had often been given weapons. They took on the police and even armed soldiers on some occasions. Which of the following words from the article provides context clues to the meaning of the word "atrocities"?

Leaders hoped it might actually bring an end to violence and herald a new beginning. The author uses the word "herald" to mean ____.

On June 3, 1947, a group of eight men sat around a table in New Delhi, India. Their task was to decide how to divide up the country following its independence from the British. The northeastern and northwestern parts of the country were made up of Muslim majorities and became the country of Pakistan. The rest of the country was predominantly Hindu — along with religious minorities like the Sikhs — and became the country of India. People greeted this agreement with some cautious hope. Nobody who agreed to the plan realized that weeks later the division would unleash one of the worst tragedies of the 20th century. Why does the author include the last two sentences in the paragraph?

Suleiman the Magnificent became the sultan of the Ottoman Empire in 1520, commencing the empire's "Golden Age." On September 7, 1566, Suleiman died of a heart attack. The next day, the Ottomans won the Battle of Szigetvar on September 8, 1566. His officials did not want word of his death to distract his troops, so they kept it a secret for a month and a half while the Turkish troops established their control of the area. What can be inferred from this selection?

In 1529, Suleiman marched on Hungary once more, taking Buda from the Hapsburgs and then continuing on to besiege the Hapsburg capital at Vienna. On October 11 and 12 of that year, they attempted another siege against 16,000 Viennese defenders, but Vienna managed to hold them off, and the Turkish forces withdrew. The Ottoman sultan did not give up on the idea of taking Vienna, but his second attempt, in 1532, was hampered by rain and mud, and the army never even reached the Hapsburg capital. In 1541, the Hungarians and Ottomans defeated the Austrians, and captured additional Hapsburg land in 1541 and 1544.The Persian Empire under the Safavid dynasty was one of the Ottomans' great rivals. Its ruler, Shah Tahmasp, sought to extend Persian influence by assassinating the Ottoman governor of Baghdad. Suleiman went to war against Tahmsap three times. The third and final confrontation between Suleiman and Tahmasp took place in 1553 to 1554. Shah Tahmasp finally signed a treaty with Suleiman, in which he permanently relinquished his claims to Baghdad and the rest of Mesopotamia. What purpose is served by including information about Suleiman's multiple military campaigns against the Hapsburgs and the Safavids?

Key ideas Murals were originally used to spread messages to people who could not read or write. Often, these messages promoted pride in Mexican culture, history and politics, but as ideas and events changed in Mexico, so did the murals. The ideas of the movement were closely connected to how it was shown. Murals could be seen for free by many people, setting them apart from most fine art, which tends to be displayed only in museums. It was a natural way to spread ideas among the working classes. Often, the government would hire artists to paint murals. However, many artists would come to reject the direction being handed down to them, instead creating work that incorporated some of their own ideas and values. Sometimes this proved highly controversial and sometimes they were allowed to get away with it. The Mexican muralist movement continues to influence artists today, especially in the graffiti and street art scenes. Which of the following sentences from the section "Key ideas" BEST develops a central idea of the article?

In 1920, the new government decided to order a large number of public works of art. The artwork would help spread the ideas that were central to the revolution and establish a new identity for Mexico, bringing together its past, present and future. Murals drew on Mexico's rich historical and artistic traditions, but they also showed the country moving forward into the modern age. Importantly, most Mexicans at the time could not read or write, so the new government could not communicate through pamphlets and newspapers. Instead, it decided to use large-scale murals. In order to create these murals, the government hired some of the best Mexican artists of the day. Which central idea is MOST supported by the selection above?

Wandering around the Albuquerque Airport Terminal, after learning my flight had been delayed four hours, I heard an announcement: “If anyone in the vicinity of Gate A-4 understands any Arabic, please come to the gate immediately.” Well — one pauses these days. Gate A-4 was my own gate. I went there. An older woman in full traditional Palestinian embroidered dress, just like my grandma wore, was crumpled to the floor, wailing. “Help,” said the flight agent. “Talk to her. What is her problem? We told her the flight was going to be late and she did this.” I stooped to put my arm around the woman and spoke haltingly. “Shu-dow-a, Shu-bid-uck Habibti? Stani schway, Min fadlick, Shu-bit- se-wee?” The minute she heard any words she knew, however poorly used, she stopped crying. She thought the flight had been cancelled entirely. She needed to be in El Paso for major medical treatment the next day. I said, “No, we’re fine, you’ll get there, just later, who is picking you up? Let’s call him.” Why does the flight agent ask the speaker to talk to the older woman?

We called her son, I spoke with him in English. I told him I would stay with his mother till we got on the plane and ride next to her. She talked to him. Then we called her other sons just for the fun of it. Then we called my dad and he and she spoke for a while in Arabic and found out of course they had ten shared friends. Then I thought just for the heck of it why not call some Palestinian poets I know and let them chat with her? This all took up two hours. She was laughing a lot by then. Telling of her life, patting my knee, answering questions. She had pulled a sack of homemade mamool cookies — little powdered sugar crumbly mounds stuffed with dates and nuts — from her bag — and was offering them to all the women at the gate. To my amazement, not a single woman declined one. It was like a sacrament.The traveler from Argentina, the mom from California, the lovely woman from Laredo — we were all covered with the same powdered sugar. And smiling. There is no better cookie. How do the other women at the gate respond to the older woman’s offering of cookies?

And then the airline broke out free apple juice from huge coolers and two little girls from our flight ran around serving it and they were covered with powdered sugar, too. And I noticed my new best friend — by now we were holding hands — had a potted plant poking out of her bag, some medicinal thing, with green furry leaves. Such an old country tradi- tion. Always carry a plant. Always stay rooted to somewhere. And I looked around that gate of late and weary ones and I thought, This is the world I want to live in. The shared world. Not a single person in that gate — once the crying of confusion stopped — seemed apprehensive about any other person. They took the cookies. I wanted to hug all those other women, too. This can still happen anywhere. Not everything is lost. The speaker wants to live in a world in which people…

Wandering around the Albuquerque Airport Terminal, after learning my flight had been delayed four hours, I heard an announcement: “If anyone in the vicinity of Gate A-4 understands any Arabic, please come to the gate immediately.” Well — one pauses these days. Gate A-4 was my own gate. I went there. An older woman in full traditional Palestinian embroidered dress, just like my grandma wore, was crumpled to the floor, wailing. “Help,” said the flight agent. “Talk to her. What is her problem? We told her the flight was going to be late and she did this.” I stooped to put my arm around the woman and spoke haltingly. “Shu-dow-a, Shu-bid-uck Habibti? Stani schway, Min fadlick, Shu-bit- se-wee?” The minute she heard any words she knew, however poorly used, she stopped crying. She thought the flight had been cancelled entirely. She needed to be in El Paso for major medical treatment the next day. I said, “No, we’re fine, you’ll get there, just later, who is picking you up? Let’s call him.” We called her son, I spoke with him in English. I told him I would stay with his mother till we got on the plane and ride next to her. She talked to him. Then we called her other sons just for the fun of it. Then we called my dad and he and she spoke for a while in Arabic and found out of course they had ten shared friends. Then I thought just for the heck of it why not call some Palestinian poets I know and let them chat with her? This all took up two hours. She was laughing a lot by then. Telling of her life, patting my knee, answering questions. She had pulled a sack of homemade mamool cookies — little powdered sugar crumbly mounds stuffed with dates and nuts — from her bag — and was offering them to all the women at the gate. To my amazement, not a single woman declined one. It was like a sacrament.1 The traveler from Argentina, the mom from California, the lovely woman from Laredo — we were all covered with the same powdered sugar. And smiling. There is no better cookie. And then the airline broke out free apple juice from huge coolers and two little girls from our flight ran around serving it and they were covered with powdered sugar, too. And I noticed my new best friend — by now we were holding hands — had a potted plant poking out of her bag, some medicinal thing, with green furry leaves. Such an old country tradi- tion. Always carry a plant. Always stay rooted to somewhere. And I looked around that gate of late and weary ones and I thought, This is the world I want to live in. The shared world. Not a single person in that gate — once the crying of confusion stopped — seemed apprehensive2 about any other person. They took the cookies. I wanted to hug all those other women, too. This can still happen anywhere. Not everything is lost. Which statement expresses the theme of the poem?

THE KEYS OF DESTINY: For a thousand nights, Scheherazade beguiled= King Shahryar with her stories, winning each night a stay of execution until the next. Some of the stories made him laugh; some of them made him cry. Some were romantic; some were coarse. Some were full of foolishness; some were full of wisdom. She told him the story of the birds and the beasts and the son of Adam and the story of the angel of death and the rich king. And on the thousand and first night, she told him about... the keys of destiny. It is said that Muhammad Ibn Thailun, sultan of Egypt, was as wise and good a ruler as his father had been cruel and unjust. Therefore Allah blessed his reign, and the land and the people prospered. One day, at the beginning of his reign, Muhammad called all the officers of his court before him to question them about their duties and see whether they were paid enough, or too much, for what they did. The first to come before him were the wazirs, forty old men with long white beards and wise eyes, led by the grand wazir. Then the governors of the various provinces, and the captains of the army and of the police. One by one they knelt before their sultan and kissed the ground, while he rewarded some for their faithful work, and rebuked others for slackness or dishonesty. Why did the sultan call his officials to him?

Then came the headsman, carrying the sword of justice. But instead of walking in proudly, with the naked blade held high, the man crept in with his head hanging down, and the sword languishing8 in its sheath. Prostrating himself before the sultan, he said, “Surely the day of justice has dawned for me! For, my lord, in the days of your father, this sword was never in its sheath. There were scarcely enough hours in the day to execute judgment on all the criminals, traitors, and ne’er-do-wells who were sent before me. My life was a happy and busy one. But now, time hangs heavy on my hands. If this land remains so peaceful and contend, I shall surely die of hunger. But Allah grant our master long life!” Sultan Muhammad answered, “We come from Allah, and return to him! It is true that good for one man mean ill for another. But lift up your heart, headsman, I shall award you a salary equal to the gifts that you used to receive from those poor unfortunates my father used to send you. I hope that your sword may rust away before it is next required.” Why is the headsman upset?

At last there was only one wrinkled old man left. The sultan called him over, and asked, “What do you do?” The old man replied, “O King of time, I have but one duty. I guard a casket that your father entrusted to me. For this I receive ten coins from the treasury every month.” “That is high pay for such easy work!” said the sultan. “What is in the casket?” “I have guarded it for forty years,” said the old man, “and I do not know.” “Then bring it to me,” said the sultan. The old man went away and came back shortly with a chest of carved gold. “Open it,” ordered the sultan. Inside the casket was a little bright red earth and a manuscript, inscribed in gold on the purple-stained skin of a gazelle. The sultan took the manuscript and tried to read it, but, though he knew many of the tongues of man, he could not make it out, nor could any of the wise and learned men of his court. He called on all the famous sages of Egypt, Syria, Persia, and India to read the writing, but none of them could read it. What are sages after all, but foolish old men in large turbans? But at last a wizened servant tottered forward, saying, “Lord, I served your father for many years, and I can tell you the history of this manuscript. Your father stole it from Sheikh Hasan Abdallah al-Ashar, but then found, as you have found, that nobody could read it. So he tried to force the sheikh to read it for him, and when Sheik Hasan Abdallah refused, he threw him into the deepest dungeon in the palace. Allah alone knows whether he groans there still, or is now dead, for all this happened forty years ago.” Sultan Muhammad called the captain of the guard, and told him to make a search of all the dungeons to see if the Sheikh was still alive. It was not long before Sheikh Hasan Abdallah was found, chained to a wall in a dank, dark cell. Hasan Abdallah was imprisoned because…

He was dressed in new robes, given a staff to lean on, and brought before the sultan. When Sultan Muhammad saw the old sheikh, his face lined with the suffering of forty years of unjust captivity, he took the old man’s hand, saying “Forgive me, I beg you, for your cruel punishment. I have only today learned your story. This manuscript, I believe, is yours. And I wish to return it to you.” The old sheikh fell to his knees, crying, “Allah is wise, who makes the poison and the antidote to flower in the same field. Forty years I have lain in the dark; now, the son of my enemy stretches out his hand to me, beckoning me into the sunlight.” The Skeikh Hasan Abdallah said, “For this manuscript, I risked my life. It was the only thing I brought with me from Many-Columned Iram, the fabled city of Shaddad bin Ad, where no man may set his feet. Your father tried to force me to read it, and I would not. But for you, who freely return it, I will tell you what is written here.” Sheikh Hasan Abdallah paused for breath. “This manuscript,” he said, “contains the beginning and end of all wisdom. Its story is the story of my own life." Why does Sultan Muhammad give the manuscript to Hasan Abdallah?