1. The point of view from which the passage is told is best described as that of a:
A. first person narrator, present in the action, who relates events as they happen.
B. first person narrator, not present in the action, who relates events that happened in the past.
C. third person narrator, present in the action, who relates the thoughts and feelings of many characters.
D. third person narrator, not present in the action, who relates the thoughts and feelings of primarily one character.
2. The passage as a whole can best be described as an exploration of the:
F. career of a real estate agent and the agent’s typically mundane transactions with clients.
G. special glaze on a bowl and why the glaze makes the bowl both subtle and noticeable.
H. perceived perfection of an object and that object’s effect on people.
J. problems that can result from a person’s unyielding focus on obtaining material goods.
3. The passage most strongly suggests that a useful characteristic of the bowl, in terms of Andrea’s purpose for the object, is the bowl’s:
A. universal appeal.
B. famous designer.
C. ostentatious look.
D. commercial availability.
4. In lines 53–75, Andrea responds to an inquiry about her bowl and explains why her bowl was placed in a client’s home with statements that can best be described as:
F. vague generalizations.
G. absolute truths.
H. half-truths.
J. lies.
5. In the passage, Andrea is characterized as believing that compared to most tricks used by real estate agents to impress potential buyers, her trick of placing the bowl in a home is:
A. more humorous to potential buyers.
B. more obvious to potential buyers.
C. less familiar to potential buyers.
D. less enticing to potential buyers.
6. According to the passage, the random placement of colors in the bowl’s glaze creates a surface that:
F. acts as a mirror.
G. seems to move.
H. appears cracked in the sunlight.
J. scatters prisms on the walls of a room.
7. One main point of the fifth paragraph (lines 53–62) is that:
A. Andrea’s bowl sometimes attracts more interest than does the house itself.
B. Andrea’s bowl does not actually belong to her, but she hopes to find its owner.
C. Andrea is often asked about the bowl when a client puts in an offer on a house.
D. Andrea sometimes forgets where in a house she has placed the bowl.
8. In the passage, the admiration the bowl receives is directly compared to the admiration received by:
F. a mutt.
G. a plastic frog.
H. a cherry table.
J. the aroma of spring.
9. The passage suggests that one reason prospective home buyers have difficulty sharing their thoughts about the bowl is that they realize:
A. they are not visiting the home for the purpose of noticing decorative objects.
B. they do not want to reveal that they have the financial means to buy the bowl.
C. Andrea might start talking about the bowl instead of discussing the home that is for sale.
D. Andrea might find the bowl even more intriguing than they do.
10. The main purpose of the passage is to:
F. highlight changes in the flower industry from the seventeenth century through today.
G. examine the way certain plants have been represented in art over the centuries.
H. provide an overview of plant viruses and the way they affect the flower market.
J. explain a particular flower variation and how it has been perceived historically.
11. The main point of the second paragraph (lines 21–36) is that:
A. modern Rembrandt tulips have been painted by many of today’s most famous artists.
B. compared to seventeenth-century broken tulips, today’s multicolored tulips are less visually appealing.
C. the tulip break known as Semper Augustus was a striking example of the seventeenth-century broken tulip.
D. Rembrandt was responsible for painting the most famous tulip breaks of his time.
12. It can reasonably be inferred from the passage that some seventeenth-century tulip growers believed tulip breaks were mainly caused by:
F. suppliers’ storage conditions.
G. diseased tulip bulbs.
H. certain growing techniques.
J. certain weather patterns.
13. The information in lines 57–64 primarily functions to:
A. describe the range of potential tulip colors.
B. explain how the color variation in a broken tulip occurs.
C. argue that yellow and white are the only natural tulip colors.
D. indicate why broken tulips contain no anthocyanin.
14. The sixth paragraph (lines 79–85) differs from the rest of the passage in that it:
F. questions whether the virus that caused broken tulips was harmful to bulbs.
G. argues that growers should have dealt with broken tulips differently.
H. challenges the idea that broken tulips were beautiful.
J. highlights the complexity of the relationship between beauty and destruction.
15. According to the passage, in the seventeenth century, the fact that broken tulip bulbs tended to produce fewer and smaller offsets compared to typical tulip bulbs resulted in:
A. a decrease in the demand for broken tulips.
B. a fear among growers that broken tulips were diseased.
C. an increase in prices for broken tulips.
D. a desire among growers to plant a wider variety of crops.
16. In the passage, the author compares broken tulips as they are represented in Rembrandt’s paintings to:
F. peach-tree blossoms.
G. paint powders sprinkled on the ground.
H. a painting hastily done with a thick brush.
J. intricately marbleized papers.
17. The passage author most likely mentions that peach trees were a staple of seventeenth-century gardens to:
A. highlight a crop favored by growers who did not cultivate tulips.
B. emphasize that peach trees are not as popular in gardens today.
C. explain how peach potato aphids spread the tulip virus.
D. compare tulips to another popular seventeenth-century crop.
18. As it is used in line 80, the word abandon most nearly means:
F. uninhibitedness.
G. relinquishment.
H. destruction.
J. neglect.