FREE ATB Reading Questions and Answers

Question 1

Green Bank, West Virginia, is a tech-savvy teenager’s nightmare. In this tiny town in Pocahontas County— population 143—wireless signals are illegal. No cell phones. No WiFi. No radio. No Bluetooth. No electronic transmitters at all. You’re not even allowed to cozy up to an electric blanket.

The remote town is smack in the center of the National Radio Quiet Zone, a 13,000-square-mile stretch of land designated by the Federal Communications Commission to protect two government radio telescopes from human-made interference. The rules are most strict in Green Bank. So strict that a police officer roves the streets listening for forbidden wireless signals.

It’s necessary, though. The town is home to the Green Bank Telescope, the largest steerable radio telescope in the world—and arguably our most powerful link to the cosmos. Scientists there listen to radio energy that has journeyed light years, unlocking secrets about how the stars and galaxies formed. A rogue radio signal could prevent potential discoveries, discoveries that could answer big questions about how the universe ticks.

The main purpose of the last paragraph of the Passage is to offer:

Accepted Answer

justification

Answer

criticism

Answer

exemplification

Answer

comparison

Question 2

Lawnmowers seem to have little in common with astronomy, but they are keeping astronomers at the National Radio Astronomical Observatory up at night. A new type of robotic lawn mower has been proposed that uses beacons to train the lawn mower to stay within property lines. The beacons, placed around the yard, transmit at the same wavelength as interstellar molecules astronomers study to understand how stars form. Humans wouldn’t notice the tiny amount of energy given off by the beacons, but the Green Bank Telescope—the size of a football stadium—is so sensitive it can detect the energy given off by a snowflake as it melts. By simply mowing the lawn, a homeowner runs the risk of interfering with one of our greatest tools for studying the universe.

The manufacturer of one “LawnBot” requested a waiver to operate within the National Radio Quiet Zone. Astronomers countered with the suggestion that the beacons be reprogrammed to transmit at another wavelength not emitted by interstellar molecules. Alternately, astronomers want global positioning system (GPS) devices added to each lawn bot to prevent them from operating within the Quiet Zone.

Which conclusion can reasonably be drawn about the status of the “LawnBot” issue at the time of the writing of Passage?

Accepted Answer

Answer

The manufacturer has received a waiver to operate within the National Radio Quiet Zone.

Answer

The manufacturer has changed the wavelength at which the LawnBot’s beacons transmit.

Answer

Astronomers have succeeded in getting GPS devices added to each LawnBot.

Answer

The manufacturer and astronomers have yet to resolve their conflicts.

Question 3

As soon as I saw the Manhattan map, I wanted to draw it. I should be able to draw the place where I lived. So I asked Mom for tracing paper and she got it for me and I brought it into my fort and I pointed the light right down on the first map in the Hagstrom Atlas—downtown, where Wall Street was and the stock market worked. The streets were crazy down there; they didn’t have any kind of streets and avenues; they just had names and they looked like a game of Pick-Up Sticks. But before I could even worry about the streets, I had to get the land right. Manhattan was actually built on land. Sometimes when they were digging up the streets you saw it down there—real dirt! The land had a certain curve to it at the bottom of the island, like a dinosaur head, bumpy on the right and straight on the left, a swooping majestic bottom.

In the passage, the use of “crazy,” “dinosaur head,” “bumpy,” “straight,” and “swooping” serve mainly to emphasize the:

Accepted Answer

irregularity of downtown Manhattan

Answer

narrator’s serious approach to mapmaking

Answer

narrator’s frustration with drawing

Answer

ways in which a landscape can change over time

Question 4

Bones found in South America reveal a bizarre new dinosaur. Based on an ancestry that links it to Tyrannosaurus rex, this reptile should have been a meat eater. Instead, it preferred plants. Researchers described the new species in Nature. Its genus name—Chilesaurus—reflects that it was found in what’s now Chile. The team that discovered the fossils gave it a species name of diegosuarezi to honor Diego Suarez. While just 7 years old, Diego found the first dinosaur bones in the same general area of Chile. It’s a place known as the Toqui Formation.

C. diegosuarezi roamed South America 150 million years ago. It measured about 3 meters (roughly 10 feet) from head to tail. Its sturdy back legs, thin body, and short, stout arms made it look a bit like T. rex. But it also had a long neck, a small head, and a mouth full of leaf-shaped teeth. Those gave it a Brontosaurus-like appearance. And like the Brontosaurus, it would have eaten plants, making it an herbivore.

When the author writes that C. diegosuarezi “should have been a meat eater,” she most likely means that the species:

Accepted Answer

had body features similar to those of its meat-eating relative

Answer

would have been healthier if it had eaten meat

Answer

would have grown even larger if it had eaten meat

Answer

had the head, neck, and teeth of a meat eater

Question 5

The first album that singer Leehom Wang bought as an adolescent was the Beastie Boys’ Licensed to Ill; his first concert was Heart, at the War Memorial in Rochester, New York. As for Chinese pop music, though, Wang says he recalls hearing it only once as a youngster—when his singer uncle, Li Jian-fu, paid a visit in the 1980s and played his nationalistic-patriotic hit “Descendants of the Dragon” in Wang’s living room. Wang didn’t know it then, but he would go on to remix “Descendants of the Dragon” for a new generation, adding new lyrics about his parents’ own immigrant experience. Over the last decade, Wang’s songs have frequently emphasized his dedication to and pride in his Chinese heritage—themes that reflect his personal journey and have a powerful commercial appeal, particularly on the mainland. At the same time, Wang has demonstrated a strong interest in incorporating traditional Chinese music and instruments into his hip-hop and R&B-based tunes.

The second paragraph marks a shift in the passage from a discussion of Leehom Wang’s:

Accepted Answer

early musical influences on his later musical career

Answer

family members to Leehom Wang himself

Answer

interest in the United States to his interest in China

Answer

fondness for pop music to his fondness for traditional music

Question 6

Technology has scrambled the lines between public and private. Cellphones make our most intimate conversations available to anyone within earshot, while headphones create zones of pure solitude even in the midst of the liveliest crowd. Smartphones and tablets allow us to spend time with art without ever leaving the office, while sophisticated new robots enable people who are housebound to participate in live events remotely.

Which of the following would be most similar to the examples the author provides in the passage?

Accepted Answer

A person’s unfiltered first reaction to a major event becomes widely known because that person posts it online.

Answer

A person’s confidential information is compromised because that person left some papers in a public place.

Answer

A person enjoys numerous television programs, so that person buys a sophisticated new television on which to watch them.

Answer

A person wants to keep a record of his or her private thoughts, so that person secretly starts keeping a daily journal.

Question 7

Construction management is ideal for someone who has a general interest in building and design. Working as a construction manager affords the chance to learn a construction project from the planning stage with architects and engineers to the budgeting stage with cost estimators, to the production stage with laborers. And that’s just a small taste of the job’s duties: Construction managers also obtain work permits, hire contractors, troubleshoot emergencies, schedule walkthroughs, and keep clients informed on work timetables and progress.

The passage most strongly emphasizes which aspect of the job of construction management?

Accepted Answer

The variety of its responsibilities

Answer

The educational background it requires

Answer

The kind of person for whom it is suitable

Answer

The amount of stress it inflicts