SAT reading comprehension practice test 02

The passage is taken from a description of the life of certain Pacific Islanders written by a pioneering sociologist.

By the time a child is six or seven she has all the essential
avoidances well enough by heart to be trusted with the care of a
younger child. And she also develops a number of simple
techniques. She learns to weave firm square balls from palm
5 leaves, to make pinwheels of palm leaves or frangipani blossoms,
to climb a coconut tree by walking up the trunk on flexible little
feet, to break open a coconut with one firm well-directed blow of
a knife as long as she is tall, to play a number of group games
and sing the songs which go with them, to tidy the house by
10 picking up the litter on the stony floor, to bring water from the
sea, to spread out the copra to dry and to help gather it in when
rain threatens, to go to a neighboring house and bring back a
lighted faggot for the chief's pipe or the cook-house fire.

But in the case of the little girls all these tasks are merely
15 supplementary to the main business of baby-tending. Very small
boys also have some care of the younger children, but at eight or
nine years of age they are usually relieved of it. Whatever rough
edges have not been smoothed off by this responsibility for
younger children are worn off by their contact with older boys.
20 For little boys are admitted to interesting and important activities
only so long as their behavior is circumspect and helpful. Where
small girls are brusquely pushed aside, small boys will be
patiently tolerated and they become adept at making themselves
useful. The four or five little boys who all wish to assist at the
25 important, business of helping a grown youth lasso reef eels,
organize themselves into a highly efficient working team; one boy
holds the bait, another holds an extra lasso, others poke
eagerly about in holes in the reef looking for prey, while still
another tucks the captured eels into his lavalava. The small girls,
30 burdened with heavy babies or the care of little staggerers who are
too small to adventure on the reef, discouraged by the hostility
of the small boys and the scorn of the older ones, have
little opportunity for learning the more adventurous forms of work
and play. So while the little boys first undergo the
35 chastening effects of baby-tending and then have many
opportunities to learn effective cooperation under the supervision
of older boys, the girls' education is less comprehensive. They
have a high standard of individual responsibility, but the
community provides them with no lessons in cooperation with one
40 another. This is particularly apparent in the activities of young
people: the boys organize quickly; the girls waste hours in
bickering, innocent of any technique for quick and efficient
cooperation.

Adapted from: Coming of Age in Samoa, Margaret Mead (1928)

1. The primary purpose of the passage with reference to the society under discussion is to

A. explain some differences in the upbringing of girls and boys
B. criticize the deficiencies in the education of girls
C. give a comprehensive account of a day in the life of an average young girl
D. delineate the role of young girls
E. show that young girls are trained to be useful to adults

A. household duties
B. rudimentary physical skills
C. important responsibilities
D. useful social skills
E. monotonous tasks

4. It can be inferred that the 'high standard of individual responsibility' (line 38) is

A. developed mainly through child-care duties
B. only present in girls
C. taught to the girl before she is entrusted with babies
D. actually counterproductive
E. weakened as the girl grows older.

A. not guilty of
B. unskilled in
C. unsuited for
D. uninvolved in
E. uninterested in

6. It can be inferred that in the community under discussion all of the following are important except

A. domestic handicrafts
B. well-defined social structure
C. fishing skills
D. formal education
E. division of labor

7. Which of the following if true would weaken the author's contention about 'lessons in cooperation' (line 39) ?

8. Which of the following is the best description of the author's technique in handling her material?

A. Both description and interpretation of observations.
B. Presentation of facts without comment.
C. Description of evidence to support a theory.
D. Generalization from a particular viewpoint.
E. Close examination of preconceptions.

SAT reading comprehension practice test 02

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