The casual horrors and real disasters are thrown at newspaper reader without discrimination. In the contemporary arrangements for circulating the news, an important element, evaluation is always weak and often wanting entirely. There is no point anywhere along the line where someone puts his foot down for certain and says, "This is important and that does not amount to a row of beans; deserves no one’s attention, and should travel the wires no farther". The junk is dressed up to look as meaningful as the real news.
In the above passage, the phrase “does not amount to a row of beans” means that the news
Answer: B
Correct answer: deserves no one's attention
The phrase is glossed in the passage itself: the imagined editor says an item does not amount to a row of beans; deserves no one's attention, and should travel the wires no farther. The clauses run in apposition, so the second explains the first.
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Newspapers lack a sense of discrimination because
Answer: A
Correct answer: they do not separate the real news from mere sensationalism
The passage says casual horrors and real disasters are thrown at the reader without discrimination and that the junk is dressed up to look as meaningful as the real news. Manpower and reader ignorance are explanations the passage never offers.
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The passage implies that
Answer: C
Correct answer: newspapers always dress up junk to look meaningful
This is stated in the passage's last sentence. Censorship is nowhere raised: what the writer wants is editorial judgement about importance, which is a different thing from suppression.
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Evaluation of news would imply
Answer: B
Correct answer: more careful analysis of each news story and its value
The passage defines the missing element as the moment when someone judges this is important and that does not amount to a row of beans. That is an assessment of each item's worth. Separating beans from junk mixes the passage's two metaphors into something it never says.
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There is more than a modicum of truth in the assertion that "a working knowledge of ancient history is necessary to the intelligent interpretation of current events". But the sage who uttered these words of wisdom might well have added something on the benefits of studying, particularly, the famous battles of history for the lessons they contain for those of us who lead or aspire to leadership. Such a study will reveal certain qualities and attributes which enabled the winners to win and certain deficiencies which caused the losers to lose. And the student will see that the same pattern recurs consistently, again and again, throughout the centuries.
A person who aspires to lead could learn from the history of battles
Answer: C
Correct answer: the qualities and deficiencies of commanders of these battles
The passage says such a study reveals certain qualities and attributes which enabled the winners to win and certain deficiencies which caused the losers to lose. The answer has to carry both halves; the first two options take one each, and strategy is never mentioned.
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In this context, "intelligent interpretation of current event" means
Answer: A
Correct answer: rational explanation of events
Intelligent here describes the reasoning applied, not the reader's intellect or skill, so the phrase means explaining events by working out why they happened. The passage supports this by proposing history as the material that reasoning works on.
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The expression "more than a modicum of truth" means
Answer: C
Correct answer: more than a small amount of truth
A modicum is a small quantity, so more than a modicum is more than a little but well short of the whole. Some truth loses the comparison, much truth overstates it, and nothing but truth claims the assertion is wholly true, which the qualifier is there to avoid.
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According to the writer, a study of famous battles of history would
Answer: B
Correct answer: provide food to modern leaders for reflection
The passage recommends studying famous battles for the lessons they contain for those of us who lead or aspire to leadership. The lessons are about leadership rather than about warfare, which is why the option about modern war misses; and the passage adds to the value of ancient history rather than ranking itself above it.
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A knowledge of history is necessary to interpret current problems because
Answer: C
Correct answer: they may be repetitions of past events
The passage closes by saying the student will see that the same pattern recurs consistently, again and again, throughout the centuries. Recurrence is what makes the past useful for reading the present; roots and context are true enough in general but are not what this passage argues.
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Detective stories tend to glorify crime. Murderers, gangsters and crooks of all kinds are described as tough, cunning and courageous individuals who know how to take care of themselves and how to get what they want. In James McCain's The Postman Always Rings twice, for instance the villain is much more impressive a character than his victim. He is casual, brave, smart and successful with women. It is true that he finally gets caught. But he is punished for a crime that he did not commit, so that his conviction is hardly a triumph of justice. Besides, looking back over the exciting life of the criminal, the reader might conclude that it was worth the risk.
The passage mentions James McCain
Answer: A
Correct answer: as an author of detective stories
James McCain is named as the author of The Postman Always Rings Twice, which the passage offers as an instance of the glorifying it describes. The qualities listed - casual, brave, smart, successful with women - belong to the villain of that book, not to its author.
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